Oregon Assisted Suicide Law Upheld

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Justice Department lacks the authority to overturn a voter-approved Oregon law allowing physician-assisted suicides.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones scolded Attorney General John Ashcroft, saying Ashcroft "with no advance warning to Oregon ... fired the first shot in the battle between the state of Oregon and the federal government."

"To allow an attorney general to determine the legitimacy of a particular medical practice … would be unprecedented and extraordinary," Jones wrote in his opinion.

Jones said Ashcroft attempted to "stifle an ongoing, earnest and profound debate in the various states concerning physician-assisted suicide" with a Nov. 6 directive declaring that assisted suicide was not a "legitimate medical practice."

"The citizens of Oregon, through their democratic initiative process, have chosen to resolve the moral, legal and ethical debate on physician-assisted suicide for themselves by voting — not once, but twice — in favor of the Oregon act," Jones wrote.

CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports that the Oregon law is the only legislation of its kind in the nation and now probably faces a Supreme Court showdown and final word on whether any state's citizens have the right to choose how they die.

"We are digesting the opinion," a subdued Ashcroft said. "The opinion will be evaluated."

"Medicine is the art of preserving health, treating disease, or relieving pain - assisting suicide is not medicine," Assistant Attorney General Robert McCallum said in a statement released following the ruling. "Physicians pledge a sacred oath to preserve health, heal disease, relieve pain, and not to terminate lives with deadly drugs.

"The Department is reviewing the court's decision and assessing the appropriate steps to take," McCallum's statement said. "However, the Department remains convinced that its interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act as prohibiting the use of federally controlled drugs to assist suicide is correct."

CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen expects the issue to be looked at by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"If the High Court sides with Oregon, it could mean the enactment of similar laws in other states," he said, "and if a majority of justices rule in favor of the Administration, then assisted suicide laws everywhere will be in jeopardy."

If and when it does reach the High Court, Cohen said it should be a fascinating debate.

"A majority of Justices on the Court already are on record in a variety of circumstances as being in favor of states' rights over federal interests and that's clearly one of the central issues they'll be asked to resolve."

The Oregon Death With Dignity Act was approved by voters in 1994 and overwhelmingly affirmed three years later when it was returned to the ballot following a failed legal challenge.

The state law allows terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to request a lethal dose of drugs after two doctors confirm the diagnosis and judge the patient mentally competent to make the request.

Jones said Wednesday that the state had followed the wishes of the Supreme Court by striking a proper balance between the interests of the terminally ill and the government's responsibility to protect them.

Gov. John Kitzhaber, a physician, signed the assisted suicide law in 1998. Since then, at least 91 people have used the law to end their lives, most of them suffering from cancer.

But Ashcroft issued a directive on Nov. 6 that would have banned any lethal prescriptions, deciding they did not meet a "legitimate medical purpose" under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers challenged the directive in court.

Supporters of the Oregon law contended a ruling in favor of Ashcroft would have had a "chilling effect" on nationwide care for the terminally ill because doctors would fear that administering too much pain medication could invite federal prosecution.

Opponents of the law, such as Dr. Gregory Hamilton of Physicians for Compassionate Care, said such arguments are scare tactics. He said Ashcroft made it clear that "aggressive pain management" is considered legitimate medical care even if it may increase the chance of a patient's death.

Steve Bushong, a deputy Oregon attorney general who has defended the state law, argued that regulating doctors has always been the sole responsibility of the states.

Bushong said Congress intended only to prevent illegal drug trafficking by doctors under the Controlled Substances Act, and it left any decisions about medical practice up to the states.

Attorneys representing an Oregon doctor, a pharmacist and several terminally ill patients joined the state against Ashcroft, arguing that even if he did believe he had authority to ban the Oregon law, he did not follow proper procedure to issue the directive.

Judge Jones criticized Ashcroft in court early in the case, calling the directive an "edict" that Ashcroft issued without hearings. Ashcroft's order reversed a 1998 opinion by former Attorney General Janet Reno