(Professor/Instructor)
(Course/Major)
In a 6-3 ruling, the United States Supreme Court jettisoned a significant hindrance to state initiatives to legalize “physician-assisted suicide.” In their decision, the High Bench ruled that then Attorney General John Ashcroft decided without any legal mandate in 2001 when the government moved against the adoption of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. The decision removes a sizable obstacle to state policies such as the one in Oregon, which is the only state in the United States that allows physician-assisted suicide.
Though the Court’s ruling was founded on general administrative law, the decision was heavily influenced by the tenet of the majority in the decision that the “regulation of medical practice belonged, as a general matter, to the states.” To the Court, Attorney General Ashcroft conducted himself “in contradiction to the basic principles of the Federal system.” The particular case, Washington v. Glucksberg, the High Court ruled that the Constitution did not accord a right to aid in a person’s death; however, the High Court noted that the states were at liberty to probe the matter. The ruling of the Supreme Court reaffirmed the rulings of two lower Federal courts. Ashcroft appealed the ruling in his position as Attorney General; his successor, Alberto Gonzales, believed in Ashcroft’s position and pursued the case when the justices recognized the case in February (Greenhouse 1).
With this ruling, it is expected that advocates for assisted suicide in the United States as well as in other countries to push for “death-on-demand” policies to be lawful and agreeable. There are those in other countries that support euthanasia as well as assisted suicide owing to the fact that the dying do not want to be a burden for their families; allowing them to take their own lives permits them to actualize that wish (Patients Rights Council 1).
Works Cited
Greenhouse, Linda. “Supreme Court removes obstacle to assisted-suicide laws.” The New York Times 2006 January 17 Washington
Patient Rights Council “Assisted suicide and death with dignity: past, present and future-part III.” <http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/rpt2005-part3/
