A proposed California bill pushed for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, allowing those who are terminally ill to end their own lives with the assistance of properly prescribed lethal medications.
SB 128, also known as the End of Life bill, closely mimics several aspects of the Death With Dignity Act in Oregon.
Dr. Maria Claver, a professor of gerontology at California State University, Long Beach, said that it is a good idea to base the California bill off of Oregon because the two states are close in proximity and California can gauge how successful Oregon has been.
“They can really do the research and see: has that been effective?” Claver said.
Under the submitted legislation, patients who are seeking life-ending medical assistance would need to be 18 or older and mentally competent to make health care decisions, excluding those suffering from conditions like dementia or depression.
Patients would also need to submit two witnesses testimonies that attest to their wish to die, along with one written and two oral submissions made at least 15 days apart in order to receive the proper medication.
Two physicians must confirm that the patient has six months or less to live. The patient’s attending physician must also offer alternative options like additional treatment, pain control and palliative or hospice care. Unlike the Death With Dignity Act, pharmacists are also given immunity for assisted suicide.
“I know a lot of family members who have had terminally ill cases where they wished that they could have gotten relief from that,” Caitlyn Davies, a sophomore animation major, said.
Davies said she would be in support of the bill as long as patients are meeting these specific requirements.
“Patients have a right to control what’s done to them,” said Dr. Eileen Watson, a nursing professor at CSULB who teaches the legal aspects of health care. “That is the most common thing that I hear [for passing the bill]. On the other hand, the biggest thing is that you want to protect the patient from coercion. People say it’s not a slippery slope, I don’t know.”
Democratic state senators Lois Wolk and Bill Monning introduced the bill. The family of Brittany Maynard sponsored the bill in honor of Brittany, a California native with brain cancer who moved to Oregon with her husband in order to evoke her right to die after being barred from physician-assisted suicide under current California law.
According to the New York Times, another cancer patient and five doctors also filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court last Wednesday contesting the illegality of physician-assisted suicide.
The End of Life bill marks the seventh attempt since 1994, according to the Patients Rights Council, none of which ever passed to become law. Oregon, Vermont and Washington are the only three states that have passed laws that legalize physician-assisted suicide. Court rulings in New Mexico and Montana also allow the practice.
“Because of the social media effect, this legislation is going to be around for a while,” Watson said. “One of the authors [of the bill] was saying that if it doesn’t pass through the legislature, they want to introduce it to the voters in 2016. [There are] a lot of people looking at it.”