Riverside judge overturns California's doctor-assisted suicide law
Los Angeles Times reports that Riverside Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolia said the California Legislature violated the law by passing the End of Life Option Act during a special session dedicated to health care issues.
The Life Legal Defense Foundation is happy with the decision, as one of the groups that filed the lawsuit to
overturn the End of Life Option, they say "we will now wait and see what the attorney general does."California's law allows patients with less than six months to live to request end-of-life drugs from their doctors, a practice that has been allowed in Oregon for more than 20 years. Now, nearly 1 in 5 Americans live in a state where physician-assisted suicide is legal, according to advocacy group Compassion and Choices. In the first six months California's law was in effect, more than 100 people made use of it to end their lives. Fifty-nine percent of them had cancer, according to state data. Writing the lethal prescriptions is voluntary for doctors and medical facilities in California. However some, including all Catholic and church-affiliated hospitals, do not allowed their doctors to prescribe life ending medicines. California's data from the law's first six months show that 173 physicians wrote the 191 prescriptions statewide."
According to the LA Times, advocates believes the passage of the law was constitutional because aid in dying is a healthcare issue. "Ultimately, we are confident an appeals court will rule the Legislature duly passed the End of Life Option Act and reinstate this perfectly valid law, which the strong majority of Californians support," The Times sites a 2015 survey conducted by UC Berkeley that found 76% of Californians supported allowing terminally ill patients to take their own lives.
The ruling leaves the attorney general's office with a narrow window to get the court of appeals to intervene and uphold and continue the law. Many patients want the option and it is a difficult decision for most to make. However, an advocate points out that "It seems unfair that a court could make such a big decision for someone who is sick, and perhaps suffering. It's going to affect the way a person in California takes their last breath."
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Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-end-of-life-option-act-20180515-story.html
soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com