June 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 6
Call to action
Ask senators to defeat pain relief actWho should decide whether a prescription is for pain relief or the patient's suicide -- a physician or a federal agent? The Pain Relief Promotion Act, now in Congress, calls for training Drug Enforcement Administration agents to investigate prescriptions for controlled substances used at the end of patients' lives and to carry out enforcement actions concerning the prescriptions.
The bill would outlaw physician-assisted suicide. The Academy, which opposes physician-assisted suicide, is fighting this legislation. Why? Because, under the bill, physicians who prescribe needed medicine may be put at risk for civil and criminal investigation and liability.
The House of Representatives approved the bill, H.R. 2260, by a vote of 271-156 on Oct. 27, 1999. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard physicians' outcry over the bill and amended it April 27. But the committee left intact the bill's provisions for training law enforcement officers to review complicated end-of-life decisions.
"The AAFP cannot support legislation that may create an environment in which physicians are fearful of treating their patients appropriately," said the Academy in written testimony to the committee. The bill may soon come before the full Senate for a vote.
Time to act: Call, write, fax or e-mail your senators about H.R. 2260. Let them know what effect the bill might have on your patients.
Easy e-mail: The Academy's online service Speak Out lets you e-mail your senators an adapted version of a letter on H.R. 2260.
Access Speak Out at http://capitol.aafp.org.
For help using Speak Out, go to http://www.aafp.org/gov. Click on "directions for first-time users" of Speak Out and print the instructions as a guide.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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