Fists of Freedom: The Oregon Death with Dignity Act
... with 6 months or shorter diagnosis of a terminal illness (ORTL). In 1997, ballot measure 51 was proposed to repeal the death with dignity act. It failed miserably. There were 220,000 votes against the repeal (Zusman 2). Oregon voters have said twice that they want to have euthanasia legal in their state. If Oregon feels so strongly about the rights of the terminally ill, why has the Federal government taken direct action against it? Attorney General John Ashcroft has been the backbone of the conservative right against Oregon ballot measure No. 16. Ashcroft has proclaimed that the drugs most commonly used in doctor-assisted suicide are now illegal and subject to seizure by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Ashcroft announced this on Election Day, when attention was diverted to other issues including recent terrorist attacks (Zusman 4). At this time favor for the Republican Party was phenomenal due to the President’s activities shortly after said attacks. This was an effective way of sneaking an inflammatory issue past the American public, with only the most informed citizens taking notice. Many citizens who would be affected by this or in favor of legalized euthanasia never even knew of his actions until it was too late. One might also be concerned with the effect on life insurance in regards to the Oregon’s ballot measure 16. This issue is clearly addressed in the measure itself. According to the Oregon Death With Dignity Act section 3.13, “The sale, procurement, or issuance of any life, health, or accident insurance or annuity policy or the rate charged for any policy shall not be conditioned upon or affected by the making or rescinding of a request, by a person, for medication to end his or her life in a humane and dignified manner. Neither shall a qualified patient’s act of ingesting medication to end his or her life in a humane and dignified manner have an effect upon a life, health, or accident insurance or annuity.” This means that by law, euthanasia in Oregon is not considered suicide. This in turn means that life insurance companies cannot withhold payment to the family of the deceased. Under current federal law, physicians are legally able to administer near-lethal doses of narcotics (typically oxycodeine or morphine) to patients to keep them “comfortable.” This may seem like a decent policy to the naked eye, but under closer inspection it is only putting unnecessary strain on grieving families and taxpayers’ pocket books. A vast majority of Medicare spending is for such anesthetics. A far greater cost than this is the price that families ha...