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 The lawsuit asks San Francisco Superior Court to "clarify" that a
California law making it illegal to aid, advise or encourage someone
to commit suicide does not apply to doctors assisting a dying,
mentally competent patient.
"I am suing the State of California to remove the legal barrier
between my doctor and myself to help me achieve a peaceful and
dignified death, at the time and place of my choosing," lead
plaintiff Christine White said in a written statement released with
the lawsuit.
White has battled aggressive cancer for seven years, first
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and then leukemia, which is currently in
remission.
The lawsuit was filed on her behalf by attorneys for the Disability
Rights Legal Center. Also named as plaintiffs were five San
Francisco doctors who support physician-assisted suicide.
"If and when the leukemia returns, I want to have the option to ask
my doctor to aid me in my dying," she said. "I don't want to die in
a hospital, I've seen too many of my friends in the cancer patients'
community die that way."
The lawsuit comes four months after Brittany Maynard, suffering from
a gliobastoma brain tumor, moved from San Francisco to Oregon to
take advantage of that state's Death With Dignity Act, which allows
terminally ill residents to end their lives with the assistance of a
physician.
Maynard, 29, took her own life in early November.
Two California state senators last month introduced legislation
supported by Maynard's family that would allow doctors to prescribe
a lethal dose of medications to terminally ill patients, but the
bill's chances for passage are uncertain.
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"I do not want to have to leave my husband, my family and my friends
and move to Oregon, where terminal patients have some measure of
peace of mind, dignity and control over their dying," White said in
her statement.
A spokesman for California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has
announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination to replace
retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, had no immediate comment on the
lawsuit.
Representatives for San Francisco County District Attorney George
Gascon could not be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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