California Legislature Passes Bill on Physician-Aided Dying

The NY Times ran a story that on September 11, 2015, the California legislature passed a bill that provides for physician-aided dying for folks with terminal illnesses. California Legislature Approves Assisted Suicide   notes that if Governor Brown signs the bill, California will become the 4th state with a statute allowing PAD (physician-aided dying). The other three are Washington, Oregon, and Vermont.  (It is allowed in Montana pursuant to a state supreme court decision. A New Mexico appellate court recently overturned a trial court opinion that allowed it).

The story notes that the California legislation is based on Oregon’s, but with some clear differences:

The California law would expire after 10 years and have to be reapproved, and doctors would have to consult in private with the patient desiring to die, as part of an effort to ensure that no one would be coerced to end his or her life — a primary concern for opponents of the law.

You may recall that this is not the first attempt to approve PAD in California.  “Previous bills to legalize assisted suicide have failed in California, including one this year, when pressure from the Roman Catholic Church helped stall a similar measure in the Assembly. (The bill was resurrected for a special session, where it could bypass Assembly committees.)”

Stay tuned…