THE California Senate on Friday, Sept. 11, passed a contentious bill that would authorize terminally ill patients to legally end their lives.
In a 23-14 vote, the legislative chamber cleared AB X2-15, following approval from state Assembly on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
“Californians by an overwhelming majority – across all groups, religious, ethnic, geographic, no matter what age or gender – Californians want us, the Legislature, to act to eliminate the needless pain and prolonged suffering of those who are dying,” Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis), told her colleagues on Friday, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Despite its approval, the measure remains opposed by individuals and organizations, including the Catholic Church, disabled rights activists and associations representing oncologists.
Sen. Robert Huff (R-San Dimas) was among those who expressed disapproval of the bill.
“Let’s call this what it is. It’s not death with dignity. It’s assisted killing,” he said.
Among opponents’ concerns are that such legislation goes against God’s will, puts terminally ill patients at risk of forced death, and that poor and disabled individuals are left with limited end-of-life treatment options.
“This bill still remains broadly opposed by groups representing people living with disabilities, cancer doctors, people advocating for the poor and uninsured and faith-based organizations,” said Tim Rosales, a spokesman for Californians Against Assisted Suicide, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The bill now heads to the desk of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who formerly studied to become a Catholic priest and has not indicated whether or not he would sign off on the legislation.
California’s right to die bill, co-authored by Sen. Bill Monning (D-Monterey) and Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), gained traction after California resident Brittany Maynard, who had brain cancer, moved to Oregon last year to end her life.
“It’s a sense of accomplishment and happiness and pride in the legislators who voted for this. They are representing the will of California people,” Diaz said, according to Mercury News.
“I am confident that the governor will listen to the 75 percent of Californians who do support this option, that the governor will take into consideration that this is an option for an individual voluntarily to pursue,” he said, according to the Times. “Ethically this decision belongs with the individual working with his physician. I am hopeful.”
Eggman, whose testimony was among the most powerful in Assembly on Wednesday, according to Mercury News, spoke toward the end of the session right before lawmakers cast their votes.
“We are all going to die,” she told her colleagues, according to the publication. “As we look back at that trail of footsteps we have left (on Earth), some members want to be in control when their footstep makes that last mark. I respectfully ask for that vote.”
AB X2-15 is modeled after Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act and is nearly identical to the Senate’s version of the bill, SB128, which stalled in July in the Assembly Health Committee, according to Mercury News. Members of the committee were encouraged by the Catholic Church to vote against it, according to the publication.
Among stipulations in the measure headed to Brown include that the patient be physically capable of taking the medication themselves, that the patient is mentally competent to make health care decisions, that two doctors confirm the patient has six months or less to live, that the patient submits one written request and two oral requests made at least 15 days apart, and that two witnesses attest to the request, Mercury News reported.
Should the bill become law, it would permit physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill, mentally competent patients, Mercury News reported. It would also make California the fifth state to authorize the practice. In Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont, doctors are allowed to prescribe life-ending medication.
