THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080628
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRAD CAIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SALEM, ORE. LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A federal judge has derailed Oregon's bid to become the first place in the nation to sanction doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill.
U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday blocking the law, which was supposed to take effect today. Hogan plans to hear arguments Dec. 19 on whether the law is constitutional.
``There are terminally ill people who had their hopes raised, who believed that they had won the right to a gentle and peaceful death,'' said Barbara Coombs Lee, the chief sponsor of Measure 16. ``This is an unwarranted government intrusion into personal, private choices of dying individuals.''
Oregon voters narrowly approved the assisted-suicide measure on Nov. 8.
The law would allow patients to request life-ending medication if a doctor determines that they have less than six months to live. The patient must ask for the drugs three times - including once in writing - get a second doctor's opinion and wait 15 days.
The law is the first of its kind in the world. Doctor-assisted suicide is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but doctors are guaranteed immunity if they follow strict guidelines.
National Right to Life and other opponents began legal assaults against Measure 16 as soon as it passed.
``We're doing this so that people will not kill themselves,'' said James Bopp, a Terre Haute, Ind., lawyer and opponent of assisted suicide who requested the restraining order.
The Oregon attorney general's office said the law is constitutional, and backers were confident the measure would survive court tests.
Meanwhile, the Michigan state Senate passed a bill Wednesday to permanently make assisted suicide a felony. Those convicted of violating the ban could serve up to four years in prison and pay a $2,000 fine. Michigan's temporary ban on assisted suicide expired last month.
The measure is another attempt to stop Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has been present at 21 deaths, the most recent on Nov. 26.
KEYWORDS: SUICIDE PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE DOCTOR ASSISTED SUICIDE
LAW RULING LAW by CNB