# Death with Dignity and Federal Government **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 17, 2002, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-and-federal-government/104121 "2002-04-17T12:57:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-and-federal-government/104121/21 "2002-04-18T15:40:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tranquilis \* > \*\*As for the Oregon “conflicting” with existing Federal Law? Uh-uh. Ashcroft decreed that Assisted Suicide “served no legitimate medical purpose” all on his own authority, and _then_ applied Federal Law, which law was _intended_ by Congress to prevent doctors from dealing in Controlled Dangerous Substances by way of writing phony prescriptions. Federal Court has described Ashcroft’s actions as an “edict”, and sharply scolded him. The people of Oregon declared Assisted Suicide to be a valid procedure, and renewed that assertion several years later. Ashcroft hasn’t a leg to stand on. I see. To whom, if anyone, does federal law grant the authority to determine such things as legitimate medical purpose, Tranquilis? - Rick ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-and-federal-government/104121/22 "2002-04-18T16:02:39Z")
Even “without a leg to stand on” Ashcroft can make things so uncomfortable for physicians by harassment that none will have anything to do with prescribing such drugs in Oregon. I would point to the treatment of the Chinese physicist at Los Alamos and the many people whose lives were made difficult by J. Edgar Hoover after he went over the edge on the communist menace. Ashcroft has vast resources behind him to use in going after his targets. Forcing physicians to defend themselves over and over will soon bring them into line. The only check on an Attorney General is the President (barring impeachment which is unlikely) who has to enforce any court decisions that are handed down. Who thinks that GW will force Ashcroft to scrupulously uphold all aspects of a decision that he doesn’t like? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-and-federal-government/104121/23 "2002-04-18T16:16:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > **I see. To whom, if anyone, does federal law grant the authority to determine such things as legitimate medical purpose, Tranquilis?** To the best of my knowledge, no single person. The Office of the Surgeon General seems the appropriate place to start, but I’d have to look that up to be sure. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by David Simmons_ > \*\*Even “without a leg to stand on” Ashcroft can make things so uncomfortable for physicians by harassment that none will have anything to do with prescribing such drugs in Oregon. \*\* Hmmm… Possible, but I don’t think so. He’d need the cooperation of the Federal Courts and probably the cooperation of the Oregon Attorney General, the first of whom gave him a severe tounge-lashing on this subject and resoundingly upheld the law, and the latter of whom actively opposed him in court on this issue. I’d say that Ashcroft is pretty much dead in the water on this issue. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-and-federal-government/104121/24 "2002-04-18T16:40:51Z")
\*\*Bricker \*\* seems to me that since the States liscense the Doctors individually (vs. a Federal regulation), it would fall to the State to determine what constitutes a valid medical practice. I don’t see an overriding Federal interest in the matter presently. Ashcroft attempted to dislodge the law by linking it to the Controlled Substances Act, which was Congresses attempt to have some handle on substances of potential abuse. The judge felt certain that Congress wasn’t attempting to legislate what constituted “legitimate medical practices” and was most unhappy that an appointed executive ‘whose tenure depends entirely on whatever adminsitration occupies the White House’ should attempt to do so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-with-dignity-and-federal-government/104121.md?page=1)