This one is tough.
The headlines read that "Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Suicide Law"
Seemingly great news for fans of voluntary euthanasia, AKA assisted suicide, but on reading the article, that's not exactly what happened. Now I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the argument was not about whether Oregon physicians have the right to kill their patients,but whether the Federal government has the power under the Controlled Substances Act to punish them for it. Obviously, that is a much narrower argument, and although I think that a doctor's job is to preserve life, and not hasten death, (you know, the whole First, do no harm thing) in this light, I agree with the Supreme Court's decision.
I'm a big fan of limited government and State's Rights. It is clear that the Constitution says nothing about a right to die, which means that the decision is left to the States and the people. The people of Oregon decided that they wanted their doctors to be allowed to kill them; more power to 'em. Just don't expect me to be moving to Oregon any time soon. The Federal government does not have "controlling legal authority" as Al Gore would say.
So, I agree with the decision, even though I think physician assisted suicide is the wrong road.
Posted by Rich at January 18, 2006 12:03 AM | TrackBack