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--> --> Suicide law extended for five months PORTLAND (AP) - The nation's only physician-assisted suicide law will remain in effect while Oregon battles the federal Justice Department over the future of the law, a judge has ruled. After a four-hour court hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones extended his Nov. 8 temporary restraining order preventing Attorney General John Ashcroft from dismantling the Oregon law. The ruling extends the restraining order for up to five months while attorneys prepare arguments in Oregon's case against the Justice Department. The state has asked Jones to permanently block an order by Ashcroft, issued Nov. 6, prohibiting doctors from prescribing lethal doses of federally controlled drugs to terminally ill patients. Steve Bushong, an Oregon assistant attorney general, argued that Ashcroft went far beyond interpreting federal drug law when he issued the order. "All we're asking is to keep the Oregon law in effect," Bushong said. Bushong has battled legal challenges to the law since it was first approved by state voters in 1994. Voters re-approved the measure in a 1997 referendum by a wide margin. Jones said the state law will remain in effect until he decides the case, which he is not expected to do until April. He said doctors should not fear any repercussions for prescribing lethal doses of medications. In 1998, then-Attorney General Janet Reno concluded that the Oregon law did not conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act, which allows prescriptions only for "legitimate medical purposes." But the Ashcroft directive overturned Reno's decision, claiming that assisted suicide has no legitimate medical purpose. Bushong argued Tuesday that Ashcroft overstepped his authority by deciding how doctors can practice medicine, a matter generally controlled by state law. In February, Bushong noted, Ashcroft rejected a request by Oregon officials to discuss any challenge the Bush administration might consider to the law. "It was a secret process - no public notice, no public comment," he said. Justice Department attorneys, meanwhile, argued that Oregon does not have the right to be given an exception to the Controlled Substances Act. Under Oregon's Death with Dignity Law, doctors may provide - but not administer - a lethal prescription to terminally ill adult state residents. It requires two doctors to agree that the patient has less than six months to live, has voluntarily chosen to die and is capable of making health care decisions. At least 70 people have used the law since it took effect, according to state health officials. The judge ruled Tuesday that the state has 60 days to file its brief, after which the federal government has 30 days to reply. Then the state has an additional 14 days to respond. Many Oregon doctors have been reluctant to assist with suicides since Ashcroft issued his order, said Brad Wright, who is with Compassion in Dying, a group that supports physician-assisted suicide. Four terminally ill patients have joined the state in its lawsuit against Ashcroft. They include 68-year-old Karl Stansell, who has received chemotherapy and radiation for terminal throat cancer. Doctors have told him he has less than six months to live. "Eventually I will be unable to swallow anything and will die in agony," Stansell said. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing