Most Californians don’t know that our State Assembly has been considering a law permitting physician-assisted suicide in the state. Oregon is the only state to currently permit physicians to help patients to die. California Assembly Bill 651 has been put aside for reconsideration in January 2006.
The bill would make it legal for terminally ill patients to receive a fatal dose of drugs if two doctors agree to prescribe it after determining the patent (1) has been informed of alternatives and (2) is mentally competent to make a reasoned request for the drugs.
Oregon’s physician assisted suicide law was passed eleven years ago and has proven itself a workable law with effective safeguards. 208 Oregonians have taken fatal drugs prescribed for them, most of them in the final stages of cancer. Many more obtained the prescriptions but opted not to use them. Advocates say that having the prescription on hand gave them a feeling of control that allowed them to face dying naturally.
Opponents of the bill would rather see increased access to pain medication and medical and spiritual support.