WASHINGTON ­ Oregon’s landmark Death with Dignity Law takes center stage next week as the U.S. Supreme Court begins a new era under Chief Justice John Roberts. The Gonzales v. Oregon, case to be heard October 5th forces the Court to again look at questions of federal power and a state’s ability to determine legitimate medical practice.

Gonzales v. Oregon asks if Federal Drug Enforcement Agents can arrest and prosecute physicians and pharmacists for practicing under Oregon’s Death with Dignity law. The Death with Dignity Act was passed twice by Oregon voters - in 1994 and 1997 - and has withstood one previous court challenge that the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to hear (Lee v. Oregon, 1997)

Between the law's 1997 implementation and the State of Oregon's 2005 report, 208 Oregonians with terminal illness ended their suffering through use of the law. Oregonians have twice affirmed their support for the law, and this support grows with each year of the law's successful and safe implementation.

Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC, www.deathwithdignity.org) is an education and advocacy organization responsible for the development, passage and defense of Oregon’s law. The organization is directed by several national medical and legal experts who have helped shaped the issue from the outset. 

DDNC’s directors and supporters will be available for interviews leading up to the hearing as well as at the Court immediately following the hearing, they include:

Who:
Eli Stutsman, JD, Respondent’s legal counsel in Gonzales v. Oregon and co-author of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act

Peg Sandeen, MSW, Executive Director, Death with Dignity National Center

Dr. Peter Rasmussen, Respondent in Gonzales v. Oregon (available by phone)

Charles Baron, LLB, PhD, Law Professor, Boston College Law School and author of several articles on the legal issues surrounding physician-assisted death

Nora Miller, whose late husband, Rick Miller, availed himself of the Oregon law in 1999, after a
 battle with terminal lung cancer (available by phone)

Dr. Tim Quill, Professor of Medicine, University of Rochester (NY) and the lead physician plaintiff in the New York State case Quill v. Vacco challenging the prohibition of physician-assisted death

Alan Meisel, JD, Law Professor, University of Pittsburgh, authority on end-of-life decision making and principal author of the legal treatise The Right to Die: The Law of End of Life Decisionmaking.

Betty Rollin, television correspondent and author of the best-selling book, Last Wish, about assisting her terminally ill mother to die.

How:
Contact: Robert C. Kenneth by e-mail, or call (503) 228-4415.

The daily updated site www.deathwithdignity.org provides useful media tools, including the law’s history
and safeguards, the legal and political battles, legal briefs and other resources.

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