Oregon, Assisted Suicide and Right to Life
The reader of this paper will learn how the Right to Life movement is getting involved in a dramatic way in the assisted suicide battle in the state of Oregon. The NRLC(National Right to Life Committee), as well as the state RTL group, is participating in the court battle resulting from Oregon's November, 2001 judicial challenge to Ashcroft's decision -- initiated to keep assisted suicide practices functioning smoothly in Oregon.
The National Right to Life Committee and Oregon Right to Life filed a friend of the court brief in the case challenging the recent decision of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft that the Controlled Substances Act does not permit the use of federally controlled drugs for assisted suicide. Under the Ashcroft decision, physicians who prescribe controlled drugs for assisted suicide could lose their licenses to prescribe any federally controlled drugs, which would effectively end the medical practice of many doctors. The brief supports the position of the United States, arguing that the Ashcroft decision should be upheld. (Oregon)
In November of 2001, the State of Oregon brought suit against the Ashcroft ruling charging that it effectively nullifies Oregon's law permitting physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Oregon is the only state to have legalized physician-assisted suicide. Oregon was joined in the suit, Oregon v. Ashcroft, by a number of persons seeking assisted suicide, a physician, a pharmacist, and an assisted suicide advocacy organization. Federal district court judge Robert E. Jones in Portland, Oregon, enjoined enforcement of the Ashcroft ruling pending prompt resolution of the case in his court. The National and Oregon Right to Life brief argues that Ashcroft's decision was fully justified because the federal government can choose to protect all human life through its laws even if the State of Oregon has chosen not to do so. "Just because Oregon allows its doctors to prescribe lethal drug overdoses to patients doesn't mean that the federal government has to agree that this is a legitimate medical use of the drugs," said James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel of the National Right to Life Committee. "The Oregon tail doesn't wag the federal dog. The U.S. government can protect all human lives even if Oregon turns its back on some of them."
The brief also argues that the Ashcroft decision avoids constitutional problems by refusing to discriminate against terminally ill persons in enforcement of federal drug laws.
In passing the legislation known as Measure 16 in the state of Oregon, were there deceptions involved? Did the media play along with proponents of assisted suicide, denying media coverage to opposing viewpoints? What did proponents do immediately after passage of Measure 16? This paper will seek to satisfy these questions and others.
Sloss, David. "The Right to Choose How to Die: A Constitutional Analysis of State Laws Prohibiting Physician-Assisted Suicide." Stanford Law Review. 48.4 (1996): 937-973. Web. 2 March 2015.
Four doctors, three terminally ill patients, and a nonprofit organization called Compassion in Dying, came together to file a suit arguing that prohibiting PAS is against a person’s right to liberty (Illingworth & Parmet, 2006). This became known as the Washington et al. v. Glucksberg et al. case. This case went to the Supreme Court in January of 1997 and by that following June was ruled constitutional to uphold PAS as illegal (Washington et al. v. Glucksberg et al., 1997). The penalty for any assistance in a ...
The AMA filed an amicus brief in the 9th Circuit case regarding doctor-assisted suicide. In this brief, the AMA stated, "There is, in short, compelling evidence of the need to ensure that all patients have access to quality palliative care, but not of any need for physician-assisted suicide ..." The AMA is keenly aware that doctors perform a crucial act of healing and saving life. Accepting a dual role of taking life, while at the same time protecting life, would undermine their credibility and the sacred trust that exists between a patient and doctor.
Epilepsy, also known as “seizure disorder,” or “seizure attack,” is the fourth most common neurological disorder known to mankind, affecting an estimated 2.3 million adults and 467,711 children in the United States. Unfortunately this disorder is becoming far more common and widespread worldwide. This staggering number of cases of people suffering from Epilepsy also involves an average growth rate of 150,000 new cases each year in the United States alone. Generally, many of the people who develop who are a part of the new are mainly either young children or older adults. Your brain communicates through chemical and electrical signals that are all specialized for specific tasks. However, through the process of communication, chemical messengers, also known as neurotransmitters can suddenly fail, resulting in what is known as a seizure attack. Epilepsy occurs when a few too many brain cells become excited, or activated simultaneously, so that the brain cannot function properly and to it’s highest potential. Epilepsy is characterized when there is an abnormal imbalance in the chemical activity of the brain, leading to a disruption in the electrical activity of the brain. This disruption specifically occurs in the central nervous system (CNS), which is the part of the nervous system that contains the brain and spinal cord. This causes an interruption in communication between presynaptic neurons and postsynaptic neurons; between the axon of one neuron, the message sender and the dendrite of another neuron, the message recipient. Consequently, the effects that epileptic seizures may induce may range anywhere from mild to severe, life-threatening ramifications and complications. There are many different types of seizures associa...
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the brain causing people to have seizures. A seizure is a big disruption of electrical communication between neurons, leading to the temporary release of excessive energy in a synchronized form Epilepsy is very unpredictable. Having a seizure disorder doesn't mean that you can only have one type of seizure. People can have many different types of seizures; it can vary on the person. In some cases depending on the type of seizures someone may have they can grow out of them. (“Epilepsy Foundation." What Is Epilepsy? N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.)
However, “The United States Supreme Court found that liberty as defined in the 14th Amendment does not include the right to assistance in dying” (Vacco v. Quill). It was later decided that the responsibility for determining whether assisted death should be legalized should belong to individual states. According to a report by CNN, in 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill, mentally able adults. Today there are five states in which physician assisted suicide is legal. In Oregon, Vermont, Washington and California the option is given by each states individual laws. In Montana the patient must have a court decision. Oregon was the first state to pass the death with dignity act.
"The history of the law 's treatment of assisted suicide in this country has been and continues to be one of the rejection of nearly all efforts to permit it. That being the case, our decisions lead us to conclude that the asserted 'right ' to assistance in committing suicide is not a fundamental liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause."
This paper is going to discuss the condition Epilepsy. Epilepsy is defined as a disorder of the brain characterized by the recurrence of unprovoked seizures (Shorvon, 2009). Epilepsy starts in your brain, the brain is like a computer, it is made up of a mass of cells, called neurons, which connect to each other in very complicated ways (Routh, 2004). Electrical messages are constantly being passed from one neuron to another down nerves to the muscles in the body (Mair, 2004). If a person has epilepsy, these cells sometimes send a sudden, unexpected burst of electrical impulses, which causes a seizure (Routh, 2004). When the seizure finishes the brain behaves normally again. For some people with epilepsy these seizures happen every day. For others they may happen only once or twice a year (Routh, 2004). There are over 40 different types of seizure and each person is slightly different, but there are a few common types (Routh, 2004). Generalized seizures which affect the whole brain and partial seizures which affect a small part of the brain (Miller, 2013). The most common types of ge...
Epilepsy is an ailment that expresses itself by an attack. An attack occurs because of an abrupt, temporary bother of the electric stimulus in the brains. That means that something goes wrong in the brains, a kind of short circuit. An attack can express itself in several ways. The most well known insult is the tonic-clonic one. Most of the time the person who experiences a tonic-clonic insult, falls down on the ground with arms and legs showing spasm. All muscles relax, so the bladder as well. That can be very embarrassing for the person after the attack. Besides that, epilepsy is different for every person. Usually after an attack, people don’t know that they had one. Yet, some people feel an attack coming. That is called an aura.
According to the book Explaining Epilepsy, “Over three million Americans are affected by epilepsy (Bender 8).” Epilepsy is a condition when a person has two or more seizures that were not the result of an obvious cause, such as heart problems and low blood pressure. (Comprehensive Epilepsy Center). Epilepsy can be diagnosed in people of all ages, but is most common in children and the elderly. A person with epilepsy is in danger at all times because he or she never knows when an epileptic attack will occur. Epilepsy is a condition that negatively impacts an individual’s life through unpredictable seizures. In spite of unpredictable seizures people who suffer from this condition are able to live a fairly normal life, with the help of medicine and treatments.
The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue. They differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many terminally ill patients who are in the final stages of their lives have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia. It is sad to realize that these people are in great agony and that to them the only hope of bringing that agony to a halt is through assisted suicide.When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder. For others, however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures. But after studying both sides of the issue, a compassionate individual must conclude that competent terminal patients should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right of people to determine their own fate.
Later, the doctors told me I had epilepsy, specifically the type known as grand mal. Immediately, the doctors put me on some medications to prevent the seizures. They also gave my parents a bunch of packets of information about epilepsy. When I got older, some of those packets informed me that 20-25 million people have suffered from an epileptic seizure. Many people grow out of childhood epilepsy or they take medicine to control it. However, there is still a risk of having a seizure even if you take medication. Over the past few years, I have become increasingly aware of the chance of a seizure at any time.
Epilepsy is a condition characterized by recurrent seizures which are unprovoked by any immediately identifiable cause (Hopkins & Shorvon, 1995). It is also known as a seizure disorder. A wide range of links and risk factors are associated with the condition, but most of the time the cause is unknown. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting approximately two and half million people in the US and about 50 million worldwide. Though seizures can occur at any age, epilepsy is most commonly seen in children and the elderly. Most respond well to treatment and can control their seizures, but for some it is a chronic illness. A clinical diagnosis is the first step to finding a potential cure for the disorder.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, epilepsy is defined as “a brain disorder in which a person has repeated seizures (convulsions) over time.” Abnormal electrical activity in the brain causes these seizures. Epilepsy can result in learning difficulties, choking (during seizures), injuries, and even brain damage. Most people diagnosed with epilepsy will continue to have it throughout their lives. There is no cure for epilepsy but the disease can be controlled using anticonvulsant drugs (Epilepsy).