Oregon Physicians Thank CMA
for Help in Federal Court Case
[Posted 06/03/04]

The Oregon Medical Association (OMA) this week thanked CMA for supporting Oregon physicians in a court battle involving Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act. The U.S. Justice Department has sought to penalize Oregon physicians who, acting under state law, sought to aid terminally ill patients in ending their lives.

Oregon physicians challenged the federal government, saying it had overstepped its statutory authority in an attempt to control the legitimate practice of medicine.

“CMA’s role was key to winning a victory in federal court,” said OMA chief operating officer Jim Kronenberg. “Regardless of one’s feelings about physician assisted suicide, it is critical that the federal government not be allowed to involve itself in the states’ clear right to supervise the practice of medicine. CMA’s brief effectively argued that fundamental point.”

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last week upheld Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, striking down a 2001 directive by Attorney General John Ashcroft that physicians who prescribe “federally controlled substances” to hasten the death of terminally ill patients violate the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

CMA had submitted an amicus brief arguing that “the Attorney General’s unprecedented and unilateral determination…upsets a long-standing tradition of deference to state regulation of medical practice and in doing so interferes both with the state of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act and with physicians’ ability to care for terminally ill patients throughout the country.”

The court agreed, ruling that the Controlled Substances Act does not authorize federal regulation of the practice of medicine. “[The directive] is unlawful and unenforceable because it violates the plain language of the Controlled Substances Act [and] contravenes Congress’s expressed legislative intent,” wrote Circuit Judge Richard C. Tallman. “The attorney general’s unilateral attempt to regulate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers interferes with the democratic debate about physician-assisted suicide and far exceeds the scope of his authority under federal law.”

Judge Tallman said the court took no position on the merits or morality of physician-assisted suicide. “We express no opinion on whether the practice is inconsistent with the public interest or constitutes illegitimate medical care,” Judge Tallman wrote. “This case is simply about who gets to decide.”

The attorney general is expected to appeal the ruling.

Contact: CMA’s legal information line, 415/882-5144 or legalinfo@cmanet.org.