No Comment from the Plaintiff, Who is Still a Tiny Frozen Glob

KRT newservice reports on the dismissal by a federal appeals court of a 1999 lawsuit that alleged that all U.S. frozen embryos (400,000) are threatened by stem cell research, which required that they be destroyed. The suit, by Hagerstown, Minnesota based National Association for the Advancement of Preborn Children ("an embryo is a terrible thing to waste") - NAAPC - "sued the federal government on behalf of "Mary Doe," a name it chose for the nation's estimated 400,000 frozen embryos.

"You see, Mary Doe is coming into court and she says, 'I'm alive, and I'm a human being. Stem cell research is killing my brothers and sisters, and I may be next in line,'" said Rudolph M. Palmer, who founded the Hagerstown organization about 15 years ago.

In its appeal, NAAPC argued that present policies threaten the embryo every bit as much as the Clinton policies. "But a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to address the ethics of stem-cell research, agreeing Tuesday with a lower court that the issue was moot since it hinged on outdated Clinton administration policies."

UPDATED: Bush Administration Appeals Decision on Oregon Assisted Suicide Law

The lifenews.com site reports something that most papers missed today: Ashcroft has made one of his last acts (no pun intended) the appeal (today) of a federal appellate court's decision restricting the fed from stopping the use of drugs in assisted suicide in Oregon. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which, along with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has held that assisted suicide is constitutionally protected, will hear the case. That means it is likely headed for the Supreme Court, to no one's surprise. (UPDATE 11/10: BBC reports on the efforts of other states and on international reaction.)

Jon Eisenberg on the State of Schiavo: Not Good

The news is not encouraging from Florida on the most significant end-of-life case of the year.

Gov. Bush, the Schindlers and their supporters are now taking a two-pronged approach to forestalling the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube despite the Florida Supreme Court's decision, and so far they have achieved success on both fronts. In the Florida Supreme Court case, Gov. Bush has obtained a 30-day stay of the court's decision in order to to give him time to ask the United States Supreme Court to take the case and issue a further stay. Meanwhile, the Schindlers filed a motion in the trial court asking the judge to hold a retrial on the issue of Terri Schiavo's wishes in light of the Pope's recent statement regarding tube feeding of PVS patients. According to the Schindlers, Terri, who was Catholic, would take the Pope's statement to mean she must remain on tube feeding. The judge denied the motion, citing a prior appellate court determination that Terri "did not regularly attend mass or have a religious advisor who could assist the court in weighing her religious attitude about life-support methods." However, the judge also issued an emergency stay of the feeding-tube removal until December 6, 2004, to give the Schindlers time to appeal this order. No doubt the Schindlers will file an appeal and ask for a further stay from the state Court of Appeal court pending the decision on the appeal. Thus, there are now two temporary stays in place. I think it doubtful that the Supreme Court will take the case and issue a stay, but I think it likely that the Court of Appeal will issue a stay pending its decision on the Pope motion, which will likely last for the better part of a year or longer.