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State has shortage of suicide pain pill SALEM - Patients allowed to obtain prescriptions to end their lives under Oregon's suicide law may still not be able get the drugs, doctors say. A statewide shortage of seconal, a barbiturate key to the drug cocktail, means those prescriptions can't be filled. West Salem pharmacist Dave Hochhalter, who has filled more than a half-dozen such prescriptions, said he has not been able to get any seconal for three months. Steve Quisenberry, who operates two Salem pharmacies, said his wholesaler has none in stock. "They've got zippo," he said. Eli Lilly & Companies, which manufactures the drug, did not respond to requests for information Friday. But Salem oncologist Dr. Peter Rasmussen, who has assisted a number of patients using the law, said he wonders whether some political strings are being pulled to keep the drug out of Oregon. "What I've told my patients is that the drug is not available," Rasmussen said. "I hope somebody can find out why there is this shortage. I guess I'm just paranoid to wonder if there isn't some shenanigans going on behind the scenes." Oregon's assisted suicide law has been under attack since it was first passed by voters in 1994. About 70 terminally ill patients have used the law to end their lives. On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a directive to the Drug Enforcement Agency that said doctors prescribing federally controlled drugs to end patients' lives could lose their prescription licenses. On Thursday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order keeping the law in effect until Nov. 20. Patients wanting to beat the deadline must not only complete the requirements for obtaining a prescription, but also must get the prescription filled by Nov. 20. That's because Ashcroft's directive applies to pharmacies as well as doctors, said Tom Holt, executive director of the Oregon State Pharmacists Association. "In order to operate, a pharmacy has to have a DEA license to handle scheduled drugs," Holt said. The association is advising pharmacists to be very careful about following the law, Holt said. They can fill prescriptions for the next 11 days - if they can get the drugs. However, Holt said, "I would be surprised if people weren't more hesitant because of the uncertainty that any kind of litigation creates." Meanwhile, Rasmussen said, doctors are trying to find supplies of the drug elsewhere in the country. And they're trying to figure out whether another drug would work as well. "There's a scramble," he said. "But this is a scramble on a very small scale. There are not a lot of patients who use assisted suicide. I don't have a lot of patients who are pounding down the door waiting for their drugs." |
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