A federal judge temporarily blocked Drug Enforcement Administration agents yesterday from punishing doctors in Oregon who prescribe drugs that help terminally ill patients die.
On Tuesday, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft challenged Oregon's landmark assisted suicide law by instructing DEA agents to go after the drug licenses of physicians who prescribe powerful sedatives and narcotics to help sick patients commit suicide.
On Wednesday, Oregon's attorney general filed a lawsuit in federal court in Portland, arguing that Ashcroft was overstepping his authority and that his attempt to shut down physician-assisted suicide in Oregon was unconstitutional because it interferes with a state's right to oversee its own medical and health care systems.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones granted the temporary restraining order requested by Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers and blocked Ashcroft and the DEA from pursuing doctors in the state.
The order will remain in effect until Nov. 20, when the judge may rule on whether to grant a preliminary injunction until the case can be tried in court.
"We're very pleased with this ruling, and we will continue to defend the rights of patients and physicians in Oregon," said Kevin Neely, a spokesman for Myers.
Mindy Tucker, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said agency officials could not comment on the pending litigation.
Oregon has the nation's only law that allows physician-assisted suicide. Since voters passed the Death With Dignity Act in 1997, about 70 terminally ill people have used drugs to kill themselves.
Before getting the drugs, the patients must demonstrate that they are terminally ill with less than six months to live and mentally capable of making medical decisions. A physician may then prescribe the drugs but does not administer them.
Opponents of physician-assisted suicide argue that doctors take an oath to do no harm to patients and that prescribing drugs to help people die crosses ethical and religious lines.
Ashcroft was not seeking to arrest physicians but to revoke the licenses that allow them to prescribe powerful medications such as narcotics, which are federally controlled.
Ashcroft's decision to challenge Oregon's assisted suicide practices reverses the policy of his predecessor, Janet Reno, who prohibited federal agents from moving against doctors who use Oregon's law.
Supporters of the suicide law applauded the federal judge's decision yesterday to grant a temporary stay. "We're just at the beginning of this, but it's very, very good news," said Eli Stutsman, a director of the Oregon Death With Dignity legal center. "It's sometimes ugly when politics and law meet. This is one of those times."