SUICIDE OPTION HERE? SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS CONTROVERSIAL OREGON LAW.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the Bush administration's attempt to block Oregon's assisted-suicide law, paving the way for California and other states to pass laws permitting doctors to help terminally ill patients die.

The 6-3 high court ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting, gave renewed momentum in California to advocates of assisted suicide and prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to say he would be open to considering the measure if it is passed by the Legislature.

``I'd really have to see the see the way it is written so that I can comment on it,'' said Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has sought more moderate positions politically in Democrat-leaning California as he seeks re-election this year.

The co-sponsor of an assisted-suicide measure that won approval in the state Assembly last year, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, praised the Supreme Court ruling, which he and other supporters believe will propel the state Senate to pass the proposal during this year's session.

``I'm very gratified that the court ruled the way it did,'' said Levine, who proposed the bill after watching his own terminally ill grandmother die. ``It shows that they understand - this is something that's personal. It's an individual decision.

``It's not something the federal government should prevent people from doing.''

He promised to continue a grass-roots effort to educate Californians about the bill, which would allow adults with less than six months to live to self-administer life-ending medication prescribed by a doctor.

``It's not about requiring,'' he said. ``It's about providing a comfort option for people.''

But Californians Against Assisted Suicide, which blasted the bill when it was introduced, renewed its criticism Tuesday, saying Levine's measure lacked oversight and failed to protect a vulnerable segment of society.

``You're fundamentally changing the role of the doctor-patient relationship,'' spokesman Tim Rosales said. ``You're changing the role of the doctor from the healer to the killer.''

Currently, Vermont is the only other state with an active effort in the legislature to pass an assisted-suicide law.

``The Supreme Court's decision will provide great momentum for us to move our bill forward. We're ecstatic,'' said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Santa Rosa, co-sponsor with Levine of the California Compassionate Choices Act.

But Rosales said the Supreme Court's ruling will provide little momentum and that lawmakers will ultimately reject assisted suicide.

``There is a vast and diverse opposition to the legislation,'' Rosales said. ``There is opposition on both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans.''

The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that the federal government could not prevent Oregon doctors from prescribing a lethal dose of medicine to terminally ill patients. The Bush administration had argued that doctors who did - in compliance with Oregon law - were in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The court found that states generally regulate the practice of medicine and that the act was aimed at drug trafficking, not the practice of medicine.

The issue of physician-assisted suicide - called physician aid-in-dying by supporters - has been controversial in America for decades.

Supporters believe people should have a right to decide how and when to end their own lives; they believe autonomy is paramount. Opponents believe doctors should not be permitted to prescribe fatal doses of medicine, that life is sacred. They see such laws as the beginning of a slippery slope, where the poor, frail and disabled are encouraged to die.

Oregon voters passed their law in 1994, only to have it delayed by injunction. Voters supported the law again in 1997 in another statewide referendum, this one by a margin of 60 percent. The law took effect in 1998.

Under Oregon law only a mentally competent person with six months or less to live can obtain a prescription for a lethal dose of barbiturates. Two doctors must approve the request. There are waiting periods. The dying person must ingest the lethal dose on his own, without help from anyone else.

Oregon's experience showed that few people actually take advantage of such a law.

Between 1998 and 2004, 325 prescriptions were written for a lethal dose of drugs, and 208 people actually ended their lives by ingesting them. Oregonians found that dying people like knowing they have the option.

Also, in part because of the attention on the law and the assisted-suicide debate, the quality of end-of-life care rose in Oregon, making it a national leader. Hospice and hospital officials there decided if they didn't want people killing themselves, they had better give Oregon residents a good alternative - quality care.

Staff Writers Josh Kleinbaum and Steve Geissinger contributed to this report.