SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
June 4, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Compassion & Choices praised the California Senate today for passing a medical
aid-in-dying bill for the first time in history, two weeks after
the California Medical Association dropped its 28-year opposition
to such legislation. The vote to approve the bill, the End of Life
Option Act (SB 128), was 23 to 14. The bill now moves to the
Assembly, where the deadline to pass the bill is Sept. 11.
SB 128 would allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults the
option to request a doctor's prescription for medication that they
could take to painlessly and peacefully shorten their dying
process.
"This is a historic moment in our state for terminally ill
Californians facing unbearable suffering who need and want more
end-of-life options," said Compassion & Choices California
Campaign Director Toni Broaddus. "We
are thrilled with the Senate vote and optimistic that the Assembly
will respond to the voices of dying Californians by passing this
legislation before its Sept. 11
deadline."
The Senate floor vote comes seven months after the death of
Brittany Maynard. The 29-year-old Californian with terminal brain
cancer brought international attention to this issue when she had
to move to Oregon to utilize its
death-with-dignity law last year. In the final weeks of her life,
Maynard partnered with Compassion & Choices to launch a
campaign to make aid in dying an open and accessible medical
option.
"Brittany would be very proud to see the monumental shift
occurring on the End of Life Option legislation," said Dan Diaz, her widower. "Brittany and I respect
those who might not pursue this option if they found themselves in
a situation similar to hers. However, no one should stand in
the way of someone who is suffering from a terminal illness from
making the decisions that are best for them. An End of Life
Option law will not result in more people dying; it will result in
fewer people suffering."
The End of Life Option Act, co-authored by Senate Majority
Leader Bill Monning and Senate
Majority Whip Lois Wolk, is the first medical aid-in-dying bill to
be approved by the Senate since the first attempt to pass such
legislation in 1992.
"I am gratified that my colleagues in the Senate support a
compassionate option for dying patients facing difficult
end-of-life decisions in their final days," said Senator
Monning. "I look forward to continued collaboration with my
legislative colleagues to ensure passage of the End of Life Option
Act in the Assembly."
Senator Lois Wolk referred to the
passage as "one step closer to ensuring Californians have access to
all options to limit suffering at the end of life."
The news was well received by Christy
O'Donnell, a 46-year-old single mother dying from lung and
brain cancer, who testified in support of SB 128 before the Senate
Health Committee. Unfortunately, her doctors say she will likely
die painfully within the next few months from the cancer that has
spread to tumors in her brain, spine, ribs and liver.
Here is video of her joyful reaction immediately after the
Senate passed the End of Life Option Act:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=asPJPckawIc&feature=youtu.be.
"I implore the Assembly to change the law to give every person
the option to live and die peacefully in California," said O'Donnell, an attorney and
former sergeant with the Los
Angeles Police Department. "All of us who have chosen to
live and work in California should
have the option, together with our family and doctors, to have
access to the end-of-life option in order to shorten our dying
process if we are suffering and in pain."
Debbie Ziegler recalled her
daughter Brittany's last days, used to support aid in dying
legislation.
"Brittany stood up for what she thought was right, advocating
for other terminally ill patients in the last weeks of her life,"
she said. "On this historic day, I profoundly feel my daughter's
presence and pride as the California Senate stands with her,
acknowledging that terminally ill Californians have an irrefutable
right to decide to die in peace and to seek a doctor's aid in doing
so."
California voters support the medical option of aid in dying by
more than a 2-1 margin (64 percent vs. 24 percent). Yet, two
decades after Oregon voters rejected a ballot initiative to block
implementation of our nation's first death-with-dignity law in
1997, California still has not
authorized this practice. The End of Life Option Act is closely
modeled after the death-with-dignity law in Oregon, which has
worked well for 17 years, without a single documented case of abuse
or coercion. Currently, four other states authorize medical aid in
dying: Washington, Montana, Vermont and New
Mexico.
Compassion & Choices is the nation's oldest and largest
nonprofit organization working to improve care and expand choice at
the end of life www.compassionandchoices.org
California Media Contacts:
Patricia A. González-Portillo, (323) 819-0310,
pportillo@compassionandchoices.org
National Media Contact:
Sean Crowley, (202) 495-8520,
scrowley@compassionandchoices.org
Photo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150604/221009
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150604/221010
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140312/DC81938LOGO-b
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/california-senate-passes-first-medical-aid-in-dying-bill-in-ca-history-300094593.html
SOURCE Compassion & Choices