Terminally ill patients in California will now be able to decide whether and when to end their own lives.
On Monday Governor Jerry Brown signed a measure that will give physicians the ability to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients.
Senate Bill 128 would effectively authorize a patient deemed to be competent by specific qualifications and determined by his or her physician to be suffering from terminal disease, to request a drug for the purpose of ending his or her life.
The bill would provide immunity from all liability or professional disciplinary action towards physicians who take part in good faith compliance with the act.
It would also make it a felony to intentionally alter or forge a request for drugs to end a person’s life without his or her authorization.
Lawmakers who opposed the bill said that their deci
sion rested on moral grounds, with republicans citing religious views or personal experiences where family members are given months to live by doctors and ended up living for years.
Californians have debated life-ending methods since 1992, when voters rejected a similar proposal, according to the Patients Rights Council.
The passing of the bill has made California the fifth state to legalize assisted suicide, following Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont.
The law will not take effect until 90 days after the closing of the legislature’s special session on healthcare, which most likely will be in January of next year.