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Control was cancer victim�s hope By Bill Kettler Mail Tribune A Jackson County man who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit to defend Oregon�s assisted-suicide law would have applauded Wednesday�s federal court ruling upholding the law, his widow said. Karl Stansell was 68 when he ended his life on Dec. 19, 2001, with a lethal prescription he obtained through the assisted-suicide law. He joined the legal fight to preserve the law last fall after Attorney General John Ashcroft attempted to quash it. "Karl felt this was something we had voted on as residents of Oregon," Mary Stansell said. "It was something he believed in. He wanted to have some control over that aspect of his life. And by making the vote (Oregonians) did, he felt we had a right to that choice. We had voted for it, and it was ours." Stansell, a retired postal worker, had been losing his fight with cancer of the tonsil for several months prior to Ashcroft�s Nov. 6 declaration that a lethal prescription under Oregon�s law did not serve a legitimate medical purpose. The cancer impeded his swallowing and his speech, and he had been taking food through a tube since August. "He was feeling increasingly isolated," Mary Stansell said. "He couldn�t talk. He couldn�t eat." She said her husband had talked with physicians about ending his life when the cancer became unbearable. He had not yet obtained a lethal prescription when Ashcroft acted on Nov. 6. The attorney general�s assault on the law made him fearful that he would be unable to obtain lethal drugs, Mary Stansell said. "When Ashcroft made his announcement you could just see Karl deflate. He saw (assisted suicide) as a hope. "He seemed to perk up," she said, when U.S. District Judge Robert Jones issued an injunction that allowed the law to remain in force. "When (the injunction) came through, he was relieved," she said, because he knew he would be able to obtain a prescription of lethal drugs. As his condition worsened, Karl Stansell completed the procedural requirements to obtain the drugs. Two doctors confirmed that he had less than six months to live. He ended his life peacefully at home, Mary Stansell said. "For him it was a control issue. He felt that people should have that personal choice." Mary Stansell fears more legal challenges to the law lie ahead, but she hopes it will ultimately emerge intact. "This is a something that�s ultimately between a patient and his physician," she said. "People need to know we�re lucky here. We have that choice." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2002 Mail Tribune, Inc.