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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1997)
CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL: P.O.BOX 3159 ode@oregon. uoregon.edu Eugene, Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: darkwing.uoregon.edu/-ode EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbacti NIGHT EDITOR Holly Sanders m Terminally ill should be allowed to choose AN EMERALD EDITORIAL Ending your life should be a personal decision not subject to legislative control \V7 W ; e could begin this piece by placing you in a hypothetical situation where you were slowly dying from some ter minal illness. We could describe your painful agony, your loss of dignity and mental capacity and your inevitable lapse into a vegetative state. Frankly, we don’t see the need. We don’t care what you, as an individual, choose to do when faced with a terminal illness. If you bravely endure the pain, making the most out of every last minute, you are to be admired. Similarly, if you carefully ponder the situation and decide to end your life while still in control of your destiny, you are also to be admired. The truth is we don’t care what you do when you are about to die. It is because of this that we support assisted suicide and urge a vote against Measure 51. Measure 51 would rescind Measure 16, which was passed by the voters in 1994. Measure 16 allowed, with a considerable number of restrictions, terminally ill pa tients to end their own lives with fatal drugs prescribed by a doctor. We object to even having to vote on this issue again (see Monday’s Emerald). How ever, we recognize this is an emotional is sue for many people and that the election is a referendum on assisted suicide and not legislative interference. Our personal feelings about assisted sui cide differ. No one really knows how they will face their last days until the calendar becomes thin. However, recognizing that some people want the option of ending their lives painlessly, we support their right to do so, as estab lished under Measure 16. /C Opponents of Measure 16 have expressed concerns about the ambiguity of parts of the law. Ambiguities do exist, but the assisted sui cide measure is reasonably well worded. Unlike the Netherlands’ oft-cited assisted suicide policy, Oregon’s law does not allow doctors to kill their patients. The law re quires that patients be declared mentally competent by two physi cians. In addition, doctors have to deter mine that patients have six months or less to live. Only then can they request a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of dnigs, which patients must take on their own. Because this wording is quite different from the way euthanasia operates in the Netherlands, many of the comparisons be ing made between the two laws are unfair. Doctors will not be able to kill their pa tients, nor can they ignore patients who change their minds about wanting to die. Admittedly, doctors can be in error about the length of time a patient has to live. With a second opinion, the odds of this happen ing are smaller. Moreover, patients still have to decide whether they are ready to die based on their personal reelings and the medical evidence avail able. Proponents of Measure 51 also have ar gued the prescribed drugs do not always immediately kill a patient. This claim ig nores the fact that, in those rare instances when patients did not die within minutes, they were rendered unconscious and pain free by the drugs before they passed away. By relying upon scare tactics that either draw inaccurate com parisons to the Netherlands or mis interpret flawed medical studies, the opponents of assisted suicide have shifted the focus of discussion away from the crucial issue: choice. The real question to ask when voting on Measure 51 is whether someone should be able to tell us how to live — and end — our lives. We don’t think the Legislature should control our deaths or override our votes, and because of this, we advocate a no vote on Measure 51. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be sent to ode@oregon .uoregon .edu CORRECTIONS The headline on Page 1 of the Emerald (ODE, Oct. 8) should have read “OSPIRG offers sup port of endangered species.” In the story “Frohnmayer crit icizes higher ed budget” (ODE, Oct. 9), it should have said the University receives the smallest amount of money per student. The Emerald regrets the er rors. LETTERS TO THE EDiTOR Not the norm It’s no surprise that an open party with unlimited ac cess to alcohol outgrows the hosts’ ability to manage the crowd. Such was the case on Saturday, Oct. 4 dur ing a party near campus that got out of control and led to police intervention and four arrests. But let’s not let this one incident lead everyone to believe that binge drinking and unlawful behavior is the campus norm. It’s not. According to the CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey conducted every two years at the University, most stu dents do not binge drink. In fact, most students aver age five or fewer drinks per week. Furthermore, only half of University students use alcohol at least once a week. Lastly, over two-thirds of the students never get into fights, never miss a class and never regret their be havior due to alcohol or drug use. Think about it. There were 200 people at the Oct. 4 party and over 12,000 University undergraduates who weren’t. Most University students act responsibly and don’t end up as headline news. They end up as gradu ates. Linda Devine, Linda Hoover Office of the Dean of Student Life Thumbs RIOTING: A certain degree of common sense is required when deal ing with police. Be polite, do what they tell you (within rea son) and don't throw stuff at them. In return, the police probably won't use tear gas and pepper spray. Someof the blame for the recent “riot" lies with party hosts who failed to control the situation, but most of the blame tells upon guests who lacked both common sense and common courtesy when re sponding to law en forcement. THE U.S. STANCE ON GLOBAL WARMING: Despite a consen sus of 2,000 scien tists who sat on a U.N. panel that hu man behavior isin fluencingthe cli mate and that increased emission of greenhouse gasses will lead to planetary warming, Clinton continues to waffle on the is sue. At a confer ence on the suh ject. he pledged to support restrictions on greenhouse gasses, but oniy if other nations act first. As an industri alized nation with a strong economy, the United States should be an envi ronmental leader, not a follower. TERRORIST LISTS: Obeying a congres sional mandate, the State Dept, just re leased a list of 30 "terrorisr groups. The groups will have their assets frozen and their fund-raising efforts stopped within the United States. Not surprisingly, the list includes a large number of Islamic groups—13— which are the tradi tional scapegoats for U.S. policy mak ers. Such a list is a frightening devel opment and hear tens back to the McCarthy days when the FBI watched citizens— only now there is an added racist undertone.