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ASSISTED SUICIDE
The Summary
In 1997, Oregon enacted the first law in
the country to prescribe a lethal dose of
federally controlled drugs to terminally ill
patients who wished to commit suicide.
The Death with Dignity Act was intended
to provide patients with an option to
experience what some see as a more
humane way to die.
According to the law, a doctor cannot inject
the drugs into a patient, but the patient may
use the prescription to privately end their life.
The law was passed in 1997, and since then,
246 people in Oregon have committed drug-
assisted suicide.
Although…
In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft
threatened to punish any doctor who
prescribed a lethal dose of drugs for the
purpose of drug-assisted suicide.
He argued that the law violated the
Federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
of 1971.
Under the CSA, it would be illegal to prescribe
controlled substances to end a patient’s life
The case was appealed to the Supreme
Court
Gonzales vs. Oregon was heard in 2005
It was upheld in the Supreme Court and still
is intact today.
Yuppers, this be the end of our
presentation.