November 07, 2001
Page A3
Feds to Target Doctors in Assisted Suicide
Attorney General reverses policy on Death with Dignity Act
Kitzhaber Appalled by Ashcroft Decision
(A P ) - A tto rn e y G e n e ra l Jo h n
Ashcroft gave federal drug agents the
go-ahead Tuesday to take action against
doctors who help term inally ill patients
die, a move aim ed at undercutting
O regon’s unique assisted-suicide law.
The decision, outlined in a letter to
Drug Enforcement Administration chief
Asa Hutchinson, would allow the revo
cation of drug licenses o f doctors who
participate in an assisted suicide using
a federally controlled substance.
A shcroft’s letter reverses a June
1998 order by his predecessor, Janet
Reno, who barred agents from m oving
against doctors w ho used O regon’s
law.
G ov. John K itzhaber p redicted
that few p h y sicians, if any, w ould
be w illing to risk p ro secu tio n after
U .S.
A ttorney G eneral John A shcroft
gave federal drug agents the go-
ahead to take action against doctors
who help term inally ill patients die.
“If I was practicing m edicine to
day, I w ould be very concerned about
the im plications of being exposed to
crim inal prosecution” for prescrib
ing life-ending drugs to the terminally
ill, K itzhaber said.
K itzhaber, a D em ocrat, blasted
A shcroft’s decision to m ove against
Widespread
Job Losses
Reported
continued
from Front
W idespread jo b losses cata
pulted the unem ploym ent rate
from 4.9 percent in Septem ber
to 5.4 percent last month, m ark
ing the highest unem ploym ent
rate the country has seen since
D ecem ber 1996, the Labor D e
partm ent reported Friday.
The 4 1 5 ,0 0 0 jo b s elim inated
during the month represented
the biggest cut in payrolls since
M ay 1980. M anufacturing, air
lines, travel agencies, hotels,
retailers were am ong those post
ing big losses.
The 0.5 percentage-point ad
vance in O ctober’s unem ploy
m ent rate also was the biggest
one-month gain since May 1980.
E conom ists fear that contin
ued fallout from the attacks,
new w orries about anthrax in
the mail, plunging consum er
confidence and rising unem
ploym ent in the m onths ahead,
will keep consum ers tightfisted,
f u r th e r
w e a k e n in g
th e
econom y.
A shcroft said assisted suicide is not
a “legitim ate m edical purpose” for pre
scribing, dispensing or adm inistering
federally controlled substances. H ow
ever, he said pain m anagem ent is a
legitim ate m edical use o f controlled
substances.
A shcroft based his decision on a
unanim ous Suprem e Court ruling in
M ay that said there is no exception in
federal drug laws for the m edical use
o f m arijuana to ease pain from cancer,
AIDS and other illnesses.
The court didn’t change state laws
allow ing patients to use m arijuana for
m edical reasons, but m ade the drug
harder to obtain by denying patients the
Artificial Heart Patient
May Soon Leave Hospital
(A P) — The w orld’s first
recipient o f a self-contained
artificial heart may get his
wish to leave the hospital and
be hom e for the holidays if he
bulk s up in the next few
w eeks, his doctor says.
R o b ert T o o ls has been
gaining strength in the nearly
four m onths since the tita-
nium -and-plastic pum p was
im planted in his chest at Jew
ish H ospital, but he still needs
to put on som e weight, Dr.
R o b ert D o w lin g said last
w eek.
“If we could get about 30
pounds o f m uscle mass on
him, he could be out o f the
h o sp ita l in th re e w e e k s,”
D ow ling said.
Tools, 59, o f Franklin, Ky.,
w ants to spend Thanksgiving
at hom e, but that m ay be a bit
soon, D ow ling said.
“My guess is, h e’s prob
ably going to be out having
Thanksgiving dinner som e
where other than the hospi-
Jobless May Get
Extended Benefit
(AP) - If O regon’s unemploy
ment rate takes another dive, the
state’s jobless could qualify for
extended benefits for the first time
in a decade.
The program, which would add
another 13 weeks to the 26 weeks
o f u n e m p lo y m e n t b e n e fits
O regon’s unemployed currently
receive, automatically kicks in
when a three-month moving aver
age of a state's unemployment
rate equals or exceeds 6.5 percent.
Oregon’s unemployment rate
of 6.4 in September is well above
the national rate. State economists
already have announced that O r
egon is in a recession, having
recorded three consecutive quar
ters of employment declines.
Only three states have rates
higher than 6 percent, based on
September surveys: Oregon at 6.4
percent, W ashington at 6.1 per
cent and Alaska at 6.5 percent.
State employment economists
say they w on’t know for sure
whether Oregon qualifies for ex
tended benefits until the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics takes
right to claim "m edical necessity” as a
reason to circum vent a 1970 law regu
lating controlled substances.
U nder O regon’s Death W ith Dignity
Act, doctors may provide - but not
adm inister - a lethal prescription to
term inally ill adult state residents. It
requires that two doctors agree the
patient has less than six months to live,
has voluntarily chosen to die and is able
to make health care decisions.
At least 70 term inally ill people have
ended their lives since the law took
effect in 1997, according to the O r
egon Health Division. All have done so
with a federally controlled substance
such as a barbiturate.
the state’s October unemploy
ment rate, plugs it into a complex
mix of factors and computes the
average.
The bureau will release its find
ings Nov. 20.
Frank Richey, who manages
Oregon’s unemployment insur
ance programs, cautioned against
trying to guess what the analysis
will show. But an October unem
ployment rate above 6.7 percent
likely would trigger the program,
he said.
The U.S. economy has yet to
officially slide into recession, al
though W ednesday’s report that
the total output of goods and ser
vices slipped into the red in the
third quarter is a strong indication
the condition is imminent.
As for Oregon’s October job
numbers, state economist Tom
Potiowsky expects manufacturing
to take the biggest hit in Oregon,
as it did nationally.
“You’ re going to see the manu
facturing downturn reflected in
the Oregon report when it comes
out," Potiowsky said.
The Death Penalty,
A Congregational Issue
Across the country, states are revisiting the death penalty issue.
Congregations are asking. How can we get involved?
The First United Methodist Church, located at 1838 S. W. Jefferson will
be holding a conference on Friday, Nov. 16 called “Justice, the Death
Penalty and the Congregation.”
Guest speakers will be Sister Helen Prejean, author of the award winning
book “Dead Man Walking" and William Long, the author of “A Tortured
History: The Story of Capital Punishment in Oregon."
The conference is open to all o f those interested in the topic and will
provide valuable tools and resources for congregations.
For more information or to make reservations, call 503-296-6761 or send
Robert Tools is
the world's first
recipient o f a
self-contained
artificial heart.
tai,” D ow ling said. “But if we
can get him hom e for the C hrist
mas holiday, that would be w on
derful. Is it a possibility? Yes. Is
it a likelihood? I can ’t specu
late.”
Tools was given little chance
o f living 30 days before he re
ceived the AbioCor device. Since
then, T ools’ artificial heart has
beat millions o f timfes, and he*
takes strolls in the park, dines
out at restaurants and has gone
fishing, Dow ling said. During
one round o f therapy, Tools
lifted 50 pounds - about a
third o f his own weight.
T o o ls w a s a b o u t 140
pounds at the tim e o f surgery
and h as sin c e g a in e d 10
pounds, the doctor said. He
w e ig h e d m o re th a n 2 0 0
pounds before he fell ill.
The Food and Drug A d
ministration must approve any
discharge plan for Tools.
S in c e he re c e iv e d th e
A bioC or on July 2, three other
patients have been im planted
with the softball-sized device.
O regon’s assisted-suicide law when
the country is preoccupied with a
terrorism scare.
"G iven everything that the coun
try is going through right now, with
the country trying to respond to an
thrax, why John A shcroft picked this
moment to inject this divisive issue
into the public debate is ju st beyond
me,” the governor said.
The state will file m otions in U.S.
D istrict Court in Portland on W ednes-
day seeking to head o ff A shcroft’s
order, said Kevin N eely, spokesm an
for the O regon attorney g en eral’s
office.
Gospel Mission Plans Thanksgiving
Union Gospel Mission is plan
ning to serve over 600 meals on
T h a n k sg iv in g to P o rtla n d ’s
hom eless and needy.
The m eal, consisting o f a
tradition menu o f turkey, pota
toes, dinner rolls, salad and pie,
will take place on Nov. 22nd
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
T o enhance this year’s meal,
Union Gospel M ission is calling
the T h a n k sg iv in g festiv ities
“Love your neighbor day” and
will serve the meal w ith live
music under a huge tent, do
nated for use by N orthw est
N atural G as.
The tent will block off NW
Third betw een NW Burnside
and NW Couch in front o f Union
G o sp el M issio n d u rin g the
Thanksgiving meal.
Last year, the charity served
648 m eals in the m issio n ’s d in
ing room in shifts. T he tent will
enable the service o f m any more
people all at once.
Union Gospel M ission is seek
ing donations o f food or m on
etary donations to support the
Thanksgiving meal.
Donations may be made at
Union Gospel Mission at 15N.W.
Third Ave. Monetary donations
can be mailed to the Union G os
pel M ission’s A dministrative of
fice at 222 N.W. Couch, Port
land OR 97209 or donated online
at www.ugmportland.com orcall
this mission at 503-274-4483.
Pioneer Courthouse Upgrade Approved
The U.S. House o f R epre
sentatives has passed the final
version o f the Treasury Postal
A ppropriations bill, w hich in
cluded $16 m illion for seismic
retrofitting and upgrading o f the
Pioneer Courthouse building in
dow ntow n Portland.
C o n g ressm an B lum enauer
led the de le g a tio n effo rt to ask
the A d m in istra tio n and C o n
g ress to p ro v id e this c ritical
funding.
Sen. G o rd o n S m ith , w ho
helped pass the funding in the
Senate, said, “The historic Pio
neer Courthouse is physically
and sym bolically the heart o f
P ortland’s com m ercial and c u l
tural district. T hese funds en
sure that Pioneer C ourthouse
will rem ain a landm ark that fu
ture generations o f Portlanders
will cherish.”