Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Passed by California Assembly; Goes to Senate

The California Assembly, on a 43-34 vote, passed a bill on Wednesday that would legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

The bill will go to the State Senate which has until Friday to pass the bill. If it passes the Senate, it will go to Governor Jerry Brown, who has not voiced his position on the legislation. If the governor signs it, California will be the 5th state to make the practice legal-- joining Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont.

“The bipartisan approval of this bill is a major milestone for our movement to empower patients in their end-of-life decisions,” said Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, an organization that supports the bill, in a statement.

Under the bill, which is modeled after Oregon’s Death with Dignity bill, terminally-ill patients will be able to obtain medication to end their lives. In order to do so, two doctors would have to confirm that the patient has no more than six months to live and the patient must be mentally capable of making the decision. Under the bill, it would be a felony to coerce someone into taking life-ending medication.

The bill gained momentum after 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who had been living in California, moved to Oregon to take advantage of the state’s law after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

The legislation was originally introduced and passed in the Senate in July, but failed to pass the Assembly Health Committee. It was then reintroduced during a special health care session held by Governor Jerry Brown.

One of the concerns raised by disability rights activists is the possible abuse of the practice by insurance companies and family members of the terminally-ill.

"If insurers deny or even delay a person's life-sustaining treatment, they are being steered toward hastening their death. Do we really think insurers will do the right thing or the cheapest thing?" said Marilyn Golden, a senior policy analyst at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, according to U.S. News.

"No one pays attention to the fact that 12 other states this year have rejected the Oregon model. As the legislators became aware of these problems, they chose not to move forward," she added.