Legislators in the US state of California have voted to legalise assisted suicide.
According to Lifesite News, ‘The End of Life Option Bill’ will now proceed for a final vote at the state Senate following a 42-33 vote in its favour at the Assembly level and is expected to pass easily.
End of Life has been modelled on assisted suicide legislation now in operation in the neighbouring states of Oregon and Washington. Under its terms, a patient wishing to end their life must satisfy three criteria: They must self-administered the fatal medication; must be mentally competent, and two doctors must confirm that said patient has a terminal condition giving six months or less to live.
Opponents of the bill’s passage have warned that language used in End of Life is misleading on the issue of ‘terminal illness’.
Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, pointed out after the vote: “The bill applies to people with a ‘terminal disease,’ which is defined as having less than six months to live. Most people think this means ‘dying’. However, in Oregon, which uses a nearly-identical definition of terminal disease, an 18-year-old with insulin-dependent diabetes is ‘eligible’ for assisted suicide.”
Dore further pointed out the fact that doctors are not immune from making incorrect prognoses on life expectancy. This point was borne out by one legislator during the Assembly debate, Cheryl Brown, who stated that a fatal diagnosis offered when her own son lay on life support proved incorrect and he subsequently recovered to become a husband and father.
A final hurdle for The End of Life Option Act may lie in a reported hesitation on the part of Governor Jerry Brown to sign the document into law, a reluctance based not on the moral or ethical questions arising, but on questions around the legislative process that helped the legislation’s progress to date.
