The Big Chill — Inserting the DEA into End-of-Life Care

Abstract

Interview with Drs. Timothy Quill and Diane Meier on the Drug Enforcement Agency and end-of-life care. (08:39)Download On October 5, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gonzales v. Oregon. On the surface, this case is about the legitimacy of physicians' prescribing of medications under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act and whether the federal government can overrule the states in defining “legitimate medical practice.” Just beneath the surface, however, lies the risk of empowering agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) — whose traditional role is to prevent drug abuse and diversion — to evaluate the end-of-life practices of physicians whose patients die while receiving prescribed opioids or barbiturates. A finding in favor of . . .