For Immediate Release 

Contact: Jeana Frazzini (503) 228.4415 / Scott Swenson (202) 249.9857

Portland, OR --- Oregon Death with Dignity’s Legal Defense and Education Center today declared that the federal government’s intrusion into Oregon’s Death with Dignity law will not stand.  

“Our legal team and the citizens of Oregon are ready to fight to protect the Oregon Death with Dignity law,” said Scott Blaine Swenson, Executive Director.  “At a time when the Justice Department should be focused on fighting terrorism, Attorney General Ashcroft has instead chosen to interfere with a successful state law Oregon voters have twice supported, federal courts have upheld, and Congress twice failed to overturn.  Attorney General Ashcroft: is this really the picture of democracy you want to promote?” Swenson asked.

In addition, Swenson said, “This federal intrusion into state regulation of medical practice threatens pharmacists, physicians and hospices all over the country by giving federal regulators responsible for the war on drugs the ability to define legitimate medical practice for the states – power the federal government has never before held. Any patient suffering from pain will now wonder if their doctor is more worried about the patient’s pain or about losing his/her license.”

The Oregon law works. It has improved end-of-life care for everyone in Oregon and made Oregon a model for the rest of the nation.   Since the law went into effect:

• Oregon leads the nation in use of medical morphine to control pain
• Hospice rates in Oregon are double the national average
• 70 terminally ill people, mostly cancer patients have used the law in three years, all had insurance and access to hospice
• More Oregonians die at home surrounded by family than alone in institutions when compared to other states
• Physician professional education surrounding end-of-life issues is improved
• Oregon Patients now have established the right to sue physicians if they do not receive a MINIMUM threshold of pain care

For more information about the law, statistics since implementation and its effect nationally, please consult Improvements in End-of-Life Care Surrounding Passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, published annually by Oregon Death with Dignity Center. Copies can be obtained by calling 503-228-6079 or by visiting www.dwd.org on the web.    

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