The US state of California has legislated for assisted suicide.
Having ““carefully read the thoughtful opposition materials presented by…doctors, religious leaders and those who champion disability rights,” Governor Jerry Brown signed off on the controversial AB2X-15 Bill, meaning that assisted suicide will be an option for terminally ill patients from January 2016.
Opponents of the new law have been quick to point out deficiencies in the legislation which, they insist, will ultimately lead to abuses for vulnerable patients.
Quoted by Lifesite News, Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life said the law “opens the door to a litany of abuses of and dangers for extremely vulnerable people, and starts the slide down a ‘slippery slope’ towards legalised assisted suicide for those not faced with a terminal condition, including the disabled, and, ultimately, toward active or even involuntary euthanasia”. Yoest further pointed out that the legislation “fails to include some of the most basic legal protections for those considering physician-assisted suicide”.
Other opponents have stated that the new law will prompt insurance companies to exploit poorer patients through offering to pay for life-ending drugs over more expensive life-saving treatments.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of California has also lamented the law’s passage, arguing that it “does nothing to validate the lives of the vulnerable”.
In a joint statement, the Bishops expressed solidarity with “disability rights groups, physicians, other health care professionals and advocates for the elderly” against physician-assisted suicide, while pointing out that 48 Catholic hospitals in California “provide excellent palliative care services as all medical facilities for terminally ill patients should but often do not”.
