Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, October 14, 2005
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■ In my opinion
assisted suicide: A necessaryfreedom
For the past seven years, Oregon has
stood out as the only state with a law
that allows physician assisted suicide
and the only state that gives terminally
ill patients control over their own
death. Now, after years of debate and
challenges, this law has made its way
to the Supreme Court.
The current case — Gonzales v.
Oregon — is certainly not the first ob
stacle this law has come up against. In
1994, Oregon voters approved Mea
sure 16, the Death With Dignity Act,
which was a ballot initiative that per
mitted terminally ill patients, under
proper safeguards, to obtain a pre
scription to end their life in a humane
and dignified manner. The ballot
measure barely passed with a 51 per
cent to 49 percent margin. The law
was immediately challenged and, in
1997, the Oregon House of Represen
tatives decided to return Measure 16
to the voters for repeal. Once again,
Oregon voters asserted their rights
and maintained that physician assist
ed suicide should be allowed, defeat
ing the repeal (Measure 51). After two
votes, it finally sunk in that this is
what Oregonians want. Within a few
weeks, the law went into effect.
For a while, the law faced more le
gal challenges and another failed
measure to overturn it in Congress. Its
current jeopardy can be attributed to
former Attorney General John
Ashcroft. In 2001, Ashcroft said doc
tors who prescribe the lethal drugs al
lowed under the law would be prose
cuted under the Controlled
Substances Act. An injunction was is
sued to prevent the prosecution of
physicians and the law was eventually
upheld by the federal court of appeals.
According to ABC News, “The ques
tion before the court is whether the at
torney general has ‘permissibly con
strued’ the Controlled Substances Act
and its regulations to prohibit the distri
bution of federally controlled sub
stances to facilitate an individual’s sui
cide, regardless of the state law
allowing it.”
It is absurd to challenge the Death
JESSICA DERLETH
FREEDOM RINGS WHERE OPINIONS CLASH
With Dignity Act by calling upon the
Controlled Substances Act; it is just one
more desperate effort to overturn the
will of Oregon voters. The Controlled
Substances Act was never meant to pre
vent doctors from providing care for
their patients.
The Web site for the United States
Drug Enforcement Administration
clearly states that “the Controlled Sub
stances Act... is the legal foundation of
the government’s fight against the
abuse of drugs and other substances.”
Justice David Souter said the Controlled
Substances Act sought to curb drug ad
diction, which is not relevant to assist
ed suicide.
It is clear, even in the words of the
DEA, that the Controlled Substances
Act was created to help combat drug
abuse. This is all obvious when you
consider that physicians who register
are still allowed to prescribe the drugs
covered in the act. The barbiturates pre
scribed for assisted suicide are “Sched
ule II” drugs, which means they have
accepted medical use but require their
distribution be monitored by the DEA
due to their high potential for abuse. I
am certainly not an expert on this sub
ject or the legal system, but it just does
not look like physician assisted suicide
could be deemed “drug abuse.”
This also comes down to whether or
not physician assisted suicide is a legiti
mate medical act. Who gets to define a
legitimate medical purpose, the federal
government or the state? The regulation
of the practice of medicine has always
been up to the state, and it should con
tinue to be up to the state.
Putting aside all complicated legal is
sues, I don’t understand why people
are so determined to prevent terminally
ill patients trom taking control or tneir
own death. I understand the argument
that this is a tricky and sometimes dan
gerous issue. But if strict guidelines are
established, as they have been, and
doctors do their job properly, as I would
hope they would, then this law will not
be abused and will work for those who
truly need it.
A patient who wishes to obtain a life
ending prescription must be an Oregon
resident, 18 or older, mentally compe
tent, diagnosed with a terminal disease
and have less than six months of life ex
pectancy. According to MSNBC, a sec
ond physician must verify the diagno
sis, the patient must be advised of
alternatives — including hospice care
and pain management — and the doc
tor may prescribe, but not administer,
the drug that ends the patient’s life.
If I knew I was going to die within six
months, and all I had to look forward to
was pain, drugs and loss of autonomy
and control, I would want to have this
option. I would want some control.
Some of you out there probably dis
agree with me. Maybe you would want
to fight. It is your decision. No one is
being forced to use physician assisted
suicide. No one forces a physician to as
sist a patient.
Since it was put into full effect seven
years ago, approximately 208 people
have used the Death With Dignity Act
to end their lives (an estimated 12 peo
ple for every 10,000 deaths in 2004).
The average age was 69. The organiza
tion Compassion in Dying, which as
sists patients in using the law, knows of
19 individuals who have used the lethal
does of medication this year. Seventeen
of these individuals had some type of
cancer. The youngest was 42 and the
oldest was 88. They feared loss of au
tonomy, loss of control, loss of dignity
and loss of bodily functions. After tak
ing the medication, the average time to
death was two hours. Go online and
read about those who have chosen this
option and those who want to have this
freedom. Just think about things.
jderleth @ dailyemerald. com
■ Guest commentary
APS and DDS satisfy differing needs
and should remain separate services
In recent discussion regarding the
Recognition Review Committee (“Ob
jectivity needed for RRC to help pro
grams,” ODE Oct. 13), an ASUO com
mittee with the job of determining the
efficiency and necessity of incidental
fee-funded groups brought to light an
important question. How similar are
the services of the Assault Prevention
Shuttle (APS) and the Designated Dri
ver Shuttle (DDS)? There is a lot of con
fusion about the difference (or lack
thereof) in the student body, so let’s
put the issue to rest by going straight to
the mission statements for each group.
As the RRC will find when they review
APS and DDS, these groups are work
ing toward very different goals. Sure,
they both drive students as part of a
free service, but the question that re
veals their differing goals is: Why?
The mission of the Assault Preven
tion Shuttle is to provide a free and reli
able service to students, staff and fac
ulty who might otherwise walk alone
and risk possible assault. In turn, DDS
is a free shuttle service offered to all
University students. The shuttle allows
intoxicated students and their friends a
safe alternative to driving under the in
fluence, preventing endangerment of
themselves and others. So what does
this really mean?
APS is providing transportation to
men and women who prefer not to
walk alone at night. Some of these pa
trons are survivors of assault and most
of them are sober. DDS provides rides
to intoxicated students who don’t
have a designated ride home. The dif
ferences between these mission state
ments are supported by how each
group operates. For example, APS pro
vides rides through advance reserva
tion, and DDS schedule rides through
out the night on a first-come, first-serve
basis. APS gives rides to and from any
location within their boundaries. DDS
patrons are transported to their home
addresses only. APS gives rides to par
ties of 3 or fewer (as groups of 4 or
more are unlikely to face assault) and
the number transported in a party of
DDS riders is only limited by the capac
ity of their vans.
The bottom line? APS exists so that
students can go about their routines
without fear, and DDS keeps drunk
drivers off the streets. These are both
very necessary and very separate
groups. Merging APS and DDS would
be like merging the Native American
Student Union with the Black Student
Union. Both receive incidental fees,
both combat issues of racism, but we
would never think of pushing them
into the same group. Just like APS and
DDS, these groups are working from
different mission statements and have
different concerns and needs. Merging
APS and DDS would dismiss the spe
cific, separate goals of reducing assault
and preventing drunk driving. These
issues are too large to commit to one
group and deserve the attention and
separation they currently receive. Need
more proof? Check the RRC’s report at
the end of the year. I’m confident they
will agree.
Diana Erskine is the Assault
Prevention Shuttle co-director
■ Out loud
“If their mission and goals statements
don’t align with the Green Tape Notebook,
(the student group) will not be able to go
in front of the Programs Finance Commit
tee for their budget hearing.”
—David Go ward, Chairman of the new
ly formed Recognition Review Committee,
which will determine students groups’
funding on campus.
“My gut reaction is that it is an attempt
to go after groups like the Commentator. ”
—Commentator Editor-in-Chief Ian
Spencer, expressing skepticism about the
RRC.
“Indigenous people aren’t just surviv
ing. We’re thriving.”
— Sophomore Shalan Ryan, co-director
of the Native American Student Union, on
celebrating Indigenous Solidarity Day
(rather than Columbus Day) on Monday.
“This decision to go forward with the
design is not a decision to go forward with
the arena.”
— Vice President for University Advance
ment Allan Price, speaking about the de
sign phase of University’s basketball arena
project.
“Just because we disagree with each
other doesn’t mean we want to slit each
other’s throats ... we can disagree without
being disagreeable.”
— Oregonians in Action Director of Legal
Affairs Ross Day, following a symposium
on Measure 37 at the Knight Law Center.
“It’s misguided to wish someone a hap
py Yom Kippur. It’s a thoughtful and reflec
tive time for the Jewish Community.”
— Andi Lipstein, program director of
the Oregon Hillel.
“It’s their private life, and they should
n’t have to expose that information ... it’s
none of the University’s business to in
fringe on that.”
— Greg Crockett, pre-business adminis
tration major, expressing his opinion on
new Oregon University System sexual ha
rassment guidelines; specifically, a provi
sion which requires mandatory reporting of
“power-differential’’ relationships.
“Bigotry and hatred won’t stop until
people realize that they know someone in
the LGBTQ community and that they’re
just like everyone else.”
— Tara Allred, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisex
ual, Tiransgender Issues Coordinator for the
ASUO Women's Center, on National Com
ing Out Day.
“We’ve been in a budget hole and the
state’s been digging the hole deeper and
deeper.”
— University Senior Vice President
Pmvost John Moseley, on the funding cri
sis at Oregon universities.
“In my three decades of working with
institutions on diversity-related matters, I
have seldom encountered worse morale.”
— Dr. Carlos Cortes, on the College of
Education. Cortes conducted a diversity
evaluation of the COE last June.
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