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 The bill, passed by the Senate Health Committee, would allow
patients who are mentally competent and have fewer than six months
to live to obtain prescriptions for medication to end their lives.
“This end-of-life decision should remain with the individual, as a
matter of personal freedom and liberty without criminalize those who
help to honor our wishes,” said state Senator Lois Wolk, a Democrat
representing suburbs east of San Francisco and the state's wine
country and one of the bill's authors.
The California bill is moving through the legislature at a time when
the issue of assisted suicide has sparked public attention following
the death of brain cancer patient Brittany Maynard last fall.
Maynard, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at 29, moved from
California to Oregon, where physician assisted suicide is legal,
dying there because California forbids the practice.
 Before she died, Maynard recorded testimony in favor of passing such
a law in California, which was played for the committee on
Wednesday.
"I am heartbroken that I had to leave behind my home, my community,
and my friends in California, but I am dying and I refuse to lose my
dignity," Maynard said. "I refuse to subject myself and my family to
purposeless, prolonged pain and suffering at the hands of an
incurable disease."
The bill is opposed by disability rights activists, who fear it
would lead to the deaths of vulnerable people at the hands of
unscrupulous relatives or caregivers.
They also fear insurance companies will push assisted suicide for
those whose care is expensive.
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"I've been given a terminal diagnosis at least four times," said
Laurie Hoirup, 59, who uses a wheelchair. "Had I opted for this I
would not be alive today."
Several religious groups also oppose the bill.
If it passes, California would become one of a handful of U.S.
states that allow assisted suicide, including Oregon and Washington.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada cleared the way for
physician-assisted suicide there. Belgium, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and Switzerland are among countries that allow it.
The California bill won the five votes needed to pass the Health
Committee, but members did not declare a final tally as absent
senators planned to weigh in later on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Eric Beech)
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