Should race, religion, gender (at birth or identification later on in life), sexual
preference delineate the level of care a patient receives?
Gonzales v. Oregon
In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide after enacting the
Death with Dignity Act, which allows physicians to prescribe lethal drugs if the patient is
terminally ill and within half a year of death. The Attorney General sought control of the
situation under the Controlled Substances Act, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of
Oregon and said the Attorney General could not overrule state laws. Since
then, California has also approved assisted suicide, and it is an ethical topic with
growing importance in the medical community.
