New England Journal of Medicine Commentary

by Timothy E. Quill, MD and Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP

Jan. 4, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs physician-assisted dying in Gonzales v. Oregon, end-of-life specialists assess Drug Enforcement Agency involvement in care of the dying.

Article and Recorded Interview Available after 5pm EST on January 4, 2006 at www.nejm.org

Increased efforts by federal authorities to restrict prescriptions for terminally-ill patients has heightened physicians' fear of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) investigation and prosecution and is undermining much of the progress that has been made nationally in pain and symptom management for dying patients.

Timothy E. Quill, MD, Board Member of the Death with Dignity National Center, Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, have written a joint commentary decrying the DEA's increasing involvement in end-of-life care in Oregon and throughout the United States. The article in its entirety and an audio interview with Quill and Meier can be found at http://content.nejm.org/.

Expanded DEA involvement in palliative and end-of-life care began under the "Ashcroft Directive," aimed at increased investigation and possible prosecution of physicians who prescribe medications to alleviate dying patients' pain and suffering. This growing federal involvement in the care of the terminally ill has culminated in the Supreme Court case of Gonzales v. Oregon, aimed at overturning the landmark Oregon Death with Dignity Act, a much scrutinized but rarely used law permitting physician-assisted dying in that state under specific conditions and guidelines.

Quill is Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry and Medical Humanities at the University of Rochester (New York) where he directs the Center for Palliative Care and Clinical Ethics. Quill is the author of several books, including: Physician Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice (Johns Hopkins University Press, co-edited with Margaret Battin), Caring for Patients at the End of Life: Facing an Uncertain Future Together (Oxford University Press), A Midwife Through the Dying Process, Stories of Healing and Hard Choices at the End of Life (Johns Hopkins University Press), and Death and Dignity: Making Choices and Taking Charge (W.W. Norton). He was the lead physician plaintiff in the New York State legal case Vacco v. Quill challenging the law prohibiting physician aid in dying.

Meier is Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care and Chief of the Division of Geriatrics for the Department of Medicine, at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (NY). Meier is recipient of a National Institute on Aging Academic Career Leadership Award focusing on palliative care of the elderly and the mentoring and support of junior faculty in palliative medicine. She is editor of the first textbook on Geriatric Palliative Care, as well as four editions of Geriatric Medicine and has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and The New Yorker. She also figured prominently in Bill Moyers' PBS four-part documentary "On Our Own Terms: Dying in America."

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