Federal Ban on Assisted Suicide Proposed

THE OREGONIAN, June 18—U.S. Senate and House members have introduced legislation in Washington June 17 that could challenge Oregon's physician assisted suicide act. They predicted their proposal would become law this year, reported The Oregonian.

“Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), the assistant Senate majority leader, said he had listened carefully to the medical and patient-care groups that opposed the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act last year, then made changes in the legislation to address their concerns,” said the report.

“The bill stresses that doctors may use federally controlled drugs to treat a patient's pain, even when it may increase the risk of death. At the same time, however, it specifies that assisted suicide is not a permitted use of controlled substances.”

Nickles told the paper that he wanted to make sure that such drugs “are used for legitimate medical purposes … to alleviate pain.”

Supporters of the new legislation include several medical and patient-care groups and also the American Academy of Pain Management.

The paper reported that Physicians for Compassionate Care, which is based in Oregon and opposes assisted suicide, is supporting the bill.

Nickles said the legislation would make a clear separation between treating pain and intentionally assisting in a suicide.

Legislators Act to Abolish N.J. Death Penalty

ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 22—Two Democrats have begun “an uphill battle” June 21 as they try to repeal New Jersey's 20-year-old death penalty law.

Assemblyman Alfred E. Steele said in the report that “it is the beginning of a long crusade to inject some moral and pragmatic reasoning into this state's approach to criminal punishment.”

“This bill may not pass this year or next year, but I firmly believe it will make everyone take a harder look at New Jersey's embrace of the death penalty.”

Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo said, “The government does not have a right to kill. Capital punishment is nothing less than a cowardly and lackadaisical approach to fighting crime.”

If the bill is passed, it would abolish the state's death penalty law and give prosecutors the right to request a sentence of life imprisonment without parole in capital-murder cases.

Supporters of the bill include the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the New Jersey Association on Correction and The Coalition for Peace Action.

They argue that the assumption that it is more cost effective to kill a convict rather than keep them in prison for life is not true, and in fact “the death penalty can cost taxpayers more than life in prison because of excessive legal costs for appeals,” said the report.

One father whose daughter was murdered was quoted by the paper. “We believe that those who call for the death penalty are seeking to satisfy the calls for revenge from the victims' family members,” said Lorry Post of Cape May. “We know the agony of those who have suffered as we have and who feel they need this second killing in order to get on with their lives. However, we also know that there is nothing the state can do that can relieve our pain. Killing the murderer just brings more bloodshed and pain to another family.”