Supreme Court Upholds Oregon's Assisted Suicide Law  

In January, the United States Supreme Court let stand Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, opening the door to many more such laws across the nation for ending the lives of the terminally ill. In a six to three vote, justices ruled that a federal drug law, the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), could not be used to prosecute Oregon doctors who prescribed overdoses intended to facilitate the deaths of terminally ill patients.

Oregons "Death with Dignity Act" became law in 1997 after voters twice had approved it at the polls by wide margins. The law exempts from civil or criminal liability a state-licensed physician (the law does not protect any non-physician) who prescribes a lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient. The physician is also immune from professional disciplinary action, including revocation or suspension of hospital privileges or loss of the ...