Lawmakers Set June 9 As Effective Date For California’s Aid-In-Dying Law
Supporters used the special session on health care to bypass the committees that might have held it up.
The Associated Press:
Ill Californians May Take Life-Ending Drugs Starting In June
Terminally ill California residents will be able to legally end their lives with medication prescribed by a doctor beginning June 9. State lawmakers adjourned a special session on health care Thursday, starting the 90-day countdown to physician-assisted suicide. The law approved last year made California the fifth state to adopt the practice, but patients were left in limbo until the session ended. The bill passed following the heavily publicized case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old California woman with brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally end her life in 2014. (3/10)
The San Francisco Chronicle:
Terminally Ill Patients In California Can Seek Aid-In-Dying Beginning June 9
California’s law, which was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, is modeled after Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, which was enacted in 1997 to give terminal patients the option of dying earlier. Before being prescribed a lethal dose of drugs, two California physicians would have to agree that a mentally competent person has six months or less to live. The patient would then decide whether and when to take the prescription. Those who do so would have to ingest the drugs on their own, without assistance from another person. (Gutierrez, 3/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Aid-In-Dying Law To Take Effect June 9 In California
Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said on the Senate floor just before the adjournment vote Thursday that the law “ensures Californians have access to humane and compassionate options to limit suffering at the end of life.” The bill had failed to win needed support during the regular session, so supporters introduced it in special session, allowing it to bypass committees where opposition was strong. The approval of the law through “controversial legislative tactics” was denounced again Thursday by Tim Rosales of Californians Against Assisted Suicide. (McGreevy, 3/10)
The Sacramento Bee:
Assisted Death Will Become Legal In California In June
The California Medical Association recently provided its members with a 15-page legal handbook for doctors who will have to decide whether to participate in the law, which is voluntary. But the issue isn’t completely beyond the Capitol just yet; Sen. Bill Monning, one of the authors of the bill, has another measure this session to establish an informational hotline on assisted death, and it will circle back around at some point before 2026, when the law is set to expire. Meanwhile, after failing to get a referendum on the November ballot, some opponents are now raising funds for a legal challenge. (Koseff, 3/10)
KQED:
California To Permit Medically Assisted Suicide As Of June 9
Disability-rights advocates fought hard last year against passage of the legislative act, and they continue to voice concern. Marilyn Golden, senior policy analyst with the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, says it would be impossible to know, for example, if a depressed patient went to many doctors — who all denied the request for lethal medication — before finding one who agreed to write the prescription. (Aliferis, 3/10)