US Supreme Court - Oregon's Assisted Suicide Law Legal

Category: Elder Law, Estate Planning, Miscellaneous Musings

From Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog - the United States Supreme Court Upholds Oregon's Assisted Suicide Law:

"The United States Supreme Court has upheld Oregon's assisted suicide law in a 6-3 opinion released today (January 17, 2006).

In 2001, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft determined that assisted suicide was not a legitimate medical practice and thus doctors who prescribe the deadly drugs would be in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)...

In today's opinion, authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court recognized that the federal government has the authority to punish drug dealers and pass rules for health and safety but that in the case of Oregon's"

See also: Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Suicide Law, AP, Jan. 17, 2006.

"The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's law on physician-assisted suicide yesterday, ruling that the Justice Department may not punish doctors who help terminally ill patients end their lives.

By a vote of 6 to 3, the court ruled that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft exceeded his legal authority in 2001 when he threatened to prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled drugs if they authorized lethal doses of the medications under the Oregon Death With Dignity Act....

A Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll released Jan. 5 found that 46 percent of Americans support a right to assisted suicide while 45 percent oppose it. Assisting suicide is a crime in 44 states, including Maryland, as well as the District. It is a civil offense in Virginia. In three states -- North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming -- the law neither prohibits nor permits assisted suicide. Ohio's Supreme Court has decriminalized assisted suicide, but state regulations do not condone it.

State referendums supporting assisted suicide have failed in California, Maine, Michigan and Washington. A bill failed in Maryland in 1995 and 1996."

Mummy of Woman Who Died in '03 Found in Front of TV

Category: Elder Law, Miscellaneous Musings

This story definitely falls into the category of strange but true:

Woman Who Died in '03 Left in Front of TV - Yahoo! News: "The mummified body of a woman who didn't want to be buried was found in a chair in front of her television set 2 1/2 years after her death, authorities said. "

The story goes on the say that the elderly woman instructed her caregiver to allow her body to stay at home, and the caregiver was merely acquiescing to the request, so this isn't necessarily shades of the movie Psycho.

The tale does make you think about the plight of the homebound elderly, as this could easily have been a news item about neglect instead of adhering to a person's wishes (unusual though they may be).

Another Blogger with Similar Themes - Andrew Ewalt from CT

Category: Miscellaneous Musings

I have recently come across and been enjoying reading Andrew Ewalt's Law Blog, described as: "Helping individuals, families, and business control their affairs, protect their families and preserve their assets, through effective, prompt and reasonable legal services, including wills, trust, powers of attorney, living wills, probate and estate administration, buy sell agreements, asset protection, elder law, nursing home, Medicaid planning, business law, contracts, establishing LLC's and corporations, not-for-profits, residential real estate, commercial real estate, reverse mortgages." Andrew practices in Hartford, Connecticut.

As the postings in Andrew Ewalt's Law Blog have similar themes to the postings here (see a recent list below) this can be another source of information on planning issues.

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A Client Thank You