A recent survey found that four in 10 dying patients were in severe pain most of the time. A New York study found that 71 percent of doctors said they had under- medicated for pain for fear of running afoul of the authorities. Last year the House passed the Pain Relief Promotion Act by a 271-156 vote. That's why the American Medical Association supports the bill. If the Pain Relief Promotion Act doesn't become law, it will be because it also prohibits the use of controlled substances in assisted suicides, which Oregon voters legalized when they passed a 1994 initiative.
Critics say that it steps on Oregon state law.
Being a believer in states' rights, I should be thrilled to see Democrats clamoring for state self-determination. Except when Attorney General Janet Reno ruled in 1998 that the Oregon law does not violate federal drug laws, she contradicted herself. The measure only deals with drugs covered under the Controlled Substance Act. Besides, states do not have a right to pass laws that essentially countenance the killing of sick people. Of course, assisted suicide advocates like to pose as if they are the compassionate ones and opponents are mean-spirited people who have no problem with sick people living in pain.