Turns Out It’s Not the Black Cats You Have to Watch Our For. Although it in no way means that he’s a less inhumane man, it’s a little simplistic to characterize Ashcroft, as Andrew Tobias does here, as “telling (us) that we have to endure unimaginable pain.” And Tobias’ recounting of a Jerry Groopman anecdote aside (a straw man, with nothing directly to do with Ashcroft or his policies), whether the Oregon “assisted suicide” law is reversed or not, doctors will continue ministering compassionately to the agonized terminally ill regardless of the moralizing of the pig-ignorant.