Story below reports that California may join Oregon among the civilized states that permit aid-in-dying to terminally ill people.

This would be huge step forward for America if so. Aid-in-dying — incorrectly named “physician assisted suicide” — is a huge boon to Oregonians, most of whom never take the pills prescribed under the law; they value having a way out that doesn’t involve a hazmat team scraping pieces of your skull off the wall or tying a plastic bag around your head after sending your family and loved ones away.

Having seen exactly what people go through at the end of life with cancers up close, I have nothing but rage for people who want to deny others the right to leave on their own terms, and I have fantasies about karma that would ensure that they get to experience all the suffering they insist that others experience.

In all the struggles of the moment, it’s good to remember one of the times when justice has prevailed and people got a measure of control over their own lives back from the state.

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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

State Watch
California Could Serve as a Bellwether for Physician-Assisted Suicide Legislation

USA Today on Wednesday examined how California legislation (AB 374) to legalize physician-assisted suicide could “prompt many other states to follow suit and perhaps even prepare the way for a national law.” California “is closer than ever” to passing legislation that would permit doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients who are deemed to be mentally capable by a psychiatrist and have been told they have six months or less to live, according to USA Today. The bill is based on a 1994 law passed in Oregon. Since Oregon’s law took effect in 1997, 292 state residents have legally committed suicide, 87% of which were cancer patients in 2006, according to a report last month by the state’s Public Health Division. California’s large population could mean that more than 500 state residents would commit legal suicide annually, according to state Assembly member Anthony Adams (R), an opponent of the bill. Tim Rosales, spokesperson for Californians Against Assisted Suicide, said that Oregon statistics show that less than half of physician-assisted suicide patients cited pain as their main reasoning, while 96% cited a loss of autonomy and joy and 75% cited loss of dignity, which are “all clear indicators of depression — indicators for anyone to commit suicide.” Adams said, “It is about giving doctors the legal right to prescribe medicine whose only purpose is to kill people. This is an immoral act, and it has no place being legislated.” California Assembly member Patty Berg (D), sponsor of the bill, said, “We should be allowed to live or die according to our own moral code. The opposition comes from a very small segment of society that believes it has a … better morality than the rest of us.” Berg says the bill must pass through the state Appropriations Committee and believes it will go to a state House vote before the end of April (Welch, USA Today, 4/11).

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