Assisted Suicide

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration warned the Supreme Court yesterday that a ruling to let doctors aid in suicide would lead to needless deaths across America, ending the lives of many vulnerable people.Predicting that assisted suicide could not be controlled once allowed, the administration advocated power for states to outlaw the practice -- preferably by a total ban, with no exceptions.Any exception, the administration contended, "will lead to the deaths of many persons who are not competent, who are not terminally ill, and who do not make truly voluntary requests for assistance" in suicide.

MARYLAND legislators may have been spooked by the haunting demonstration of Jack Kevorkian's death machine on "60 Minutes" when they passed a law banning assisted suicides. But reckless doctors weren't the only people lawmakers wanted to stop. The state law clearly seeks to prevent anyone from aiding a suicide. So the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's office was right to bring Maryland's first assisted suicide charge against a teen-ager who is accused of taking an active part in the death of his 15-year-old girlfriend.

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation yesterday that would in effect overturn an Oregon law permitting physician-assisted suicides while giving doctors more leeway to prescribe narcotics to reduce suffering in seriously ill patients.The bill, which passed 271-156, sets national standards for easing pain in the seriously ill and effectively prevents states from adopting their own versions of the 5-year-old Oregon law, which enables terminally ill patients in pain to end their lives with the aid of a doctor.

WASHINGTON -- Fulfilling a promise made by President Clinton, the Justice Department expects to ask the Supreme Court today to deny constitutional protection to assisted suicide.In a legal brief speaking for the administration, the department will line up with the American Medical Association and two states in opposing any right of terminally ill people to obtain lethal drugs, according to several lawyers who have been advising the administration.The key issue the Justice Department has tried to resolve in discussions was how to oppose assisted suicide without making such a sweeping constitutional argument as to lead the Supreme Court to undermine other claims of privacy rights -- especially the right to abortion.

WASHINGTON -- The Constitution gives no one the right to have a doctor's help in committing suicide, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled yesterday.The historic ruling was perhaps the most significant one on individual rights in decades. It did leave the terminally ill the option of obtaining pain-easing drugs in doses that could hasten death, so long as the drugs are not prescribed explicitly to cause death.Speaking in bland, mostly legalistic terms on a deeply emotional issue, the court rejected any claim that the Constitution includes "a right to commit suicide which includes a right to assistance in doing so."

Jack Kevorkian has been busier than ever with his carbon monoxide machine. He helped three people die in 10 days last month, raising his total to 31 assisted suicides.And dozens of desperate people call every day.Michigan has tried every conceivable way to prosecute Kevorkian. But juries and the public seem to support him -- in some cases adore him. Some are appalled by his relentless pursuit of legalizing assisted suicide, but many Americans consider Kevorkian a folk hero, albeit an extremist and an eccentric one.Kevorkian has been tried three times on five charges of assisting suicides, in violation of Michigan law, and acquitted every time.

* Sue Rodriguez, 43, who lost three court battles for the right to an assisted suicide as she suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, died Saturday at her home in North Saanich, B.C. Police said she apparently had help taking her life. A statement she wrote before her death implored Canadian Parliament to legislate physician-assisted suicide.

IT MATTERS LITTLE whether the U.S. Supreme Court deems it a fundamental right or a moral wrong: Physician-assisted suicide will become the law of the land. Even if the court finds no constitutional right, it is inevitable most of the 50 states will follow Oregon's lead and grant a right to assisted suicide.A right to assisted suicide is inevitable because it is needed to preserve the right to die that the law has recognized since the Karen Quinlan case in 1976. Since then, courts and legislatures have permitted people who are hopelessly ill and suffering intolerably to choose an earlier death.

Ignore the moral and legal dilemmas of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Jack Kevorkian is the issue. Just ask him.For the port, it's dredge or die. Deeper channels require deep pockets and clear sailing.Russia has a lot of good, honest, dedicated, democratic politicians, if they don't all get bumped off.Too many hotels are promised, not enough are going up. One would be nice.Pub Date: 11/30/98

Maryland should make assisted suicide a felony or risk the arrival of a home-grown version of so-called death doctor Jack Kevorkian, several groups told a state Senate committee yesterday.Some doctors, local Catholic leaders and the state attorney general's office warned of potentially dire consequences unless Maryland makes it an explicit crime to help terminally ill people kill themselves.If state law remains unclear on the issue, they said, some doctors may encourage patients to commit suicide, especially if they are poor, handicapped, elderly or uninsured.