ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701060053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DETROIT
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen ruled Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides no protection for assisting in a suicide and Michigan authorities have the right to prosecute suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian.
Richard Thompson, former Oakland County prosecutor, called Rosen's ruling ``a total victory for the prosecution'' and predicted it would have national impact.
Michael Schwartz, a lawyer for Kevorkian, said late Friday the ruling would be appealed. He played down its significance.
Rosen's 59-page legal opinion rejected recent federal appeals court rulings that found terminally ill, mentally competent adults have a right to a physician's help in dying.
Because it goes against these other rulings, Rosen's opinion is viewed by legal scholars as a potentially important entry in the national debate over physician-assisted suicide.
The debate will peak next week when the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments on whether state laws banning assisting in suicides are constitutional. The Supreme Court is reviewing decisions that struck down laws banning physician-assisted suicide last year in New York and Washington states.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB