AMA TO VOTE ON ASSISTING SUICIDE.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has long stood solidly against physician-assisted suicide. At its annual meeting in Chicago June 14-19, however, its House of Delegates will vote on a resolution, the adoption of which would effectively reverse that stand.

The Wisconsin Medical Association has proposed Resolution 213, which would reverse the AMA's support of Attorney General John Ashcroft's November 2001 ruling that federally controlled drugs may not be used to assist suicide in any state, including Oregon - - the only U.S. jurisdiction that has so far legalized the practice.

At the time of the Ashcroft ruling, AMA President Dr. Yank Coble (then president-elect) noted, "[T]he AMA has consistently held that physician-assisted suicide falls outside the realm of legitimate medical practice."

Proponents of Resolution 213 claim that doctors may be reluctant to prescribe painkilling drugs if the use of drugs to kill patients is forbidden. However, Attorney General Ashcroft made clear that enforcement will rely on self-reporting by doctors who clearly state they've used federally controlled drugs to assist suicides (as required by Oregon law), not on second-guessing or reviewing doctors' pain relief prescriptions.

To be legal under Oregon law, any case of assisted suicide must be reported as such to state authorities, with information specifying the drugs used. The Justice Department made clear that it will enforce its determination by reviewing those records, not by scrutinizing prescriptions for pain relief.

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