Final Exit Network President
Challenges Scalia!
Press Release
Uphold
the will of the voters of Oregon!
Al Gonzales is the New Ashcroft!!!
Marietta, GA - February 23,
2005
"Until laws protect the
right of every adult to a peaceful, dignified death, Final
Exit Network will be there to support those who need relief
from their suffering today!"
Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society, Final Exit
Network Advisory Board
Ashcroft's Last Hostile Act
On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear
the Ashcroft Justice Department's parting-shot arguments
on Oregon's physician aid in dying law, the only such state
law in the country. Ashcroft's assault on the law began
in 1997, when the then Missouri Senator appealed to Janet
Reno's DOJ, and Reno rejected his request.
The Bush administration did not loose a step
in its relentless crusade to condemn dying people to suffer
rather than be able to have a sane, medically assured way
to die. Our new Attorney General, Al Gonzales, renewed Ashcroft's
challenge of the 7-year old Oregon law that allows terminally
ill patients to hasten their last days if they are suffering.
The President of Final Exit Network, Earl
Wettstein, challenges Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
and his fellow justices to uphold the will of the voters
of Oregon.
"The people of Oregon have twice expressed
their approval of the state law that allows Physician Aid
in Dying (PAD), and now lower courts have twice denied the
federal government the right to overturn this law. Yet the
Bush administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft,
in his last hostile act before retiring, has sent his challenge
of the Oregon law to the Supreme Court."
It's Not the Federal Governments Place
to Meddle
Wettstein challenged Scalia to stand by his previous assertion
that he would not vote to overturn the Oregon law. In this
earlier speech, the Supreme Court Justice said that he considered
it a matter of states' rights, and it was not the federal
governments place to meddle.
However, the Ashcroft position is that the Federal Government's
laws controlling lethal medications trump any state law
allowing them, and that doctors who do dispense such meds
should lose their licenses. This, of course, would immediately
end the chances of anyone using the law in the future.
Every Person Should Have the Right to Determine
His or Her Own Destiny
The Final Exit Network, a new organization in the right-to-die
movement, believes that every person should have the right
to determine his or her own destiny, including the ability
to hasten an imminent and inevitable death. The organization
trains Exit Guides who work with members to guide them when
they are suffering intolerably from an incurable physical
condition which has become more than they can bear. The
Network is open to people who are suffering from cancer,
Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis,
Muscular Dystrophy, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and other
neurological illnesses.
"Why the Federal Government Would Want
Us to Die in Pain and Suffering is Beyond Me."
In the 6 years since the law's enactment in 1998, just over
200 dying patients have used the service, so it is not a
huge magnet for people seeking relief nor is it being abused.
"Why the Federal government would
want us to die in pain and suffering is beyond me,"
Wettstein stated.
Final Exit Network
Live Well ~ Leave Well
Final Exit Network is a
new, national, nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation,
based in Marietta, GA, dedicated to serving people who are
suffering intolerably from an incurable condition.
Goals:
