| pubmed-article:11648287 | pubmed:otherAbstract | KIE: The U.S. District Court, District of Oregon, granted the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction to Measure 16, a ballot measure passed by Oregon voters that authorizes physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. The plaintiffs were physicians, terminally ill patients, and residential care facilities, and they sued the state, challenging the constitutionality of Measure 16. The court held that (1) the plaintiffs had standing; (2) serious questions were presented as to whether the measure violated the plaintiffs' freedom of association, freedom of religion, due process, and equal protection rights; and (3) the balance of hardships favored the plaintiffs. The public interest in protecting vulnerable citizens from irreparable harm of death was held to be greater than the hardship to terminally ill patients who want physician-assisted suicide to be immediately available. | lld:pubmed |
