Lawyers Take No Position on Doctor-Assisted Suicide

The American Bar Assn. refused Wednesday to take a stand on doctor-assisted suicide, voting that the matter be left to state legislatures.

In adopting the innocuous proposal during the association’s annual meeting, the group shied away from becoming embroiled in a controversial issue that some members warned could result in a drop in membership and hurt the bar’s public image.

The issue had pitted more conservative members of the association against those who felt it was the group’s duty to take positions on key legal issues of the day, despite the effect it might have on the association.

A similar situation occurred when the association debated whether to take a position on abortion. A number of members withdrew from the organization after it voted to oppose legislation that would restrict a woman’s right to have an abortion.

Indeed, some members were so worried about taking any action on doctor-assisted suicide that they urged that the association delay a vote on the proposal.

“Why should we worry about this? Why are we marching down the road I call the death march . . . are we on a death march to ruin our organization?” said Frank Bazler of Troy, Ohio.

F. William McCalpin, a St. Louis lawyer speaking on behalf of the Senior Lawyers Division that submitted the proposal, assured colleagues, “It is not authorizing a license to kill.

“This resolution takes no position on whether or not physician-assisted suicide is desirable, needed or should be considered,” he said.

The proposal approved by the association said that if a state or territory passed a law allowing doctor-assisted suicide, it should ensure that information and reporting systems were established to closely monitor the impact of such practices.

The Beverly Hills Bar Assn. had planned to submit a proposal suggesting that the ABA support legislation that would allow doctor-assisted suicide, and the matter had been scheduled to be debated Wednesday.

But late Tuesday, when the group realized it could not win, it revised the proposal and submitted a watered-down version. Even that proposal was dropped Wednesday in favor of the one submitted by the Senior Lawyers Division.

Daniel McIntosh, president of the Beverly Hills Bar Assn., told the lawyers he realized many ABA members were uncomfortable with its original proposal, but as the largest and most powerful law organization in the nation, the ABA has a duty to take positions.

He said doctors are now helping people die, but it is usually just the rich who have this option. McIntosh said it is time to bring the issue “out of the shadow and into the light.”

“We need to provide guidance and leadership on this issue,” he said.

The association vote follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that states have the right to pass laws concerning the practice and can act to ban it entirely.

It also comes as Oregon residents gear up for a November referendum challenging a 1994 initiative that allows doctor-assisted suicides. Oregon is the only state to have passed such a proposal, but the law has been on hold because of litigation.