NP - Ashcroft to Pursue Suicide Doctors

[David Morris]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011106/ts/assisted_suicide_5.html

Ashcroft to Pursue Suicide Doctors
By KATHERINE PFLEGER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) gave 
federal drug agents the go-ahead Tuesday to take action against doctors who 
help terminally ill patients die, a move aimed at undercutting Oregon's 
unique assisted-suicide law.

The decision, outlined in a letter to Drug Enforcement Administration chief 
Asa Hutchinson, would allow the revocation of drug licenses of doctors who 
participate in an assisted suicide using a federally controlled substance.

Ashcroft's letter reverses a June 1998 order by his predecessor, Janet Reno 
(news - web sites), who barred agents from moving against doctors who used 
Oregon's law.



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