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The U.S. Supreme Court has stopped efforts by the U.S. government to end Oregon''s assisted suicide law. The law, which allows doctors with sound consent to prescribe lethal medications to patients who are deemed terminally ill, was challenged by Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2001, when he barred the distribution of these suicide-assisting methods.
Ashcroft was defeated in a 6-3 vote by the Supreme Court Justices who determined his ban on assisted suicide in Oregon was in violation of pre-established state law. The high court declared the ban was an unlawful and unenforceable measure on the part of the administration.
The Death and Dignity Act was passed in Oregon in 1997 and has since been used by over 200 terminally ill patients. In order to receive assisted suicide in the state of Oregon, the patient must receive certification from two doctors confirming their terminal state and soundness of mind in their decision, before they are prescribed the lethal medication. The patient must also be believed to have less than six months left to live. The doctor then prescribes the medication, which the patient administers.
Attorney General Ashcroft initially stated in his effort to end the Oregon law, that assisted suicide didn''t have a valid medical purpose and was in direct violation of the Controlled Substances Act. The Attorney General threatened to revoke prescription licenses from doctors who prescribed the lethal drug.
The majority vote in the Supreme Court found Ashcroft to be severely overstepping his jurisdiction and interfering with recognized state laws.
The minority opinion in the high court consisted of the court''s conservative members- Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts.
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