Senate Committee Votes 11-6 Against Use of Federal Drugs for Euthanasia

On September 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-6 to report out to the full Senate the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma. All ten Republicans, joined by Joseph Biden (D-De.), voted in favor of the measure. Because of the shortness of the time remaining in the current congressional session, however, it now appears unlikely that the bill (or its companion in the House, which has been reported from the House Judiciary Committee) will come to a floor vote this year.

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act and its implementing regulations, the use of narcotics and other dangerous drugs are generally prohibited unless prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose by physicians holding a special federal "registration." In November 1997, as implementation of Oregon's law legalizing physician-assisted suicide neared, the federal agency that enforces the Controlled Substances Act announced that because killing patients is not a legitimate medical purpose, federally controlled substances may not be used to aid suicide. In June 1998, however, Attorney General Janet Reno partially overturned that ruling. In states in which assisting suicide violates state law, she said, federally controlled substances may not be used for that purpose, and a doctor's registration may be revoked for doing so. Where a state law authorizes killing patients, however, she ruled that federally controlled substances may be used for that purpose without penalty.

It was to change the Reno ruling and restore the original position of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration that the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act was introduced by Sen. Nickles and, in the House, by Reps. Henry Hyde and James Oberstar.

Meanwhile, a new organization composed largely of health care expert professionals in pain control and the care of those with terminal illness has been formed to fight euthanasia. Called Americans for Integrity in Palliative Care, its founding members include the executive director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Dr. Herbert Hendin, and the chairman of the Ethics Committee of the National Hospice Organization, Dr. Walter Hunter. In a briefing for congressional staff and others sponsored by the organization on September 23, Dr. Hunter and Dr. Dave Weldon, a member of Congress from Florida, spoke out on behalf of the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act.

Dr. Hunter, who emphasized that he was speaking for himself and not the National Hospice Organization (which has led opposition to the bill), pointed out the danger to good pain control that comes from the institutionalization of assisted suicide as a " medical treatment." "I am deeply concerned that when assisted suicide and euthanasia become part of the normative culture, hospice and palliative care may well disappear from the landscape because they require far more resources of time, money, education and commitment than the deliberate hastening of death," Dr. Hunter said.

Dr. Weldon described his personal experiences as a physician who has provided pain control for terminally ill patients, illustrating the difference between giving pain relief that may carry the risk of death and providing drugs intended to cause death. He emphasized that the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act adds to current law specific language embodying that ethically appropriate distinction.

At the briefing, Americans for Integrity in Palliative Care distributed a factsheet demonstrating that many medical groups who have couched their opposition to the bill in terms of concern that its enactment would deter pain control in fact oppose laws that prevent assisting suicide. These include the American Pharmaceutical Association, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, among others.

"We know from the debate over abortion that its proponents want to change the subject and talk about anything other than abortion itself," said Burke J. Balch, director of NRLC's Department of Medical Ethics. "It is not surprising that euthanasia advocates have sought to distract attention from debate over assisting suicide by introducing unfounded arguments about pain control. While accurately emphasizing that the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act would promote, not hinder, pain control, we must put the focus of the debate on the principle that a humane society doesn't 'solve' problems by getting rid of the patient to whom the problems happen."