ACLU of Southern California: Support Compassionate End-of-Life Choices

By None, www.aclu-sc.org, Jan. 6, 2006

Opinion

Campaign launched May 23, 2005:

We [the ACLU of Southern California] believe individuals have the right to live and die with dignity and according to their own values and religious beliefs. Terminally ill, mentally competent Californians, however, are currently barred from reaching out to physicians to help end their pain and suffering and aid them in dying.

Assembly Members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine have authored the "California Compassionate Choices Act" (AB 654), which would allow terminally ill, mentally capable adults, with six months or less to live to legally obtain and use prescriptions to end their suffering.

Take Action! Urge your own Representative and key Assembly members who still have not decided how they will vote to support AB 654, the California Compassionate Choices Act.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Support The Compassionate Choices Act (AB 654)
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I urge you to support Assembly Member Berg and Levine's Compassionate Choices Act (AB 654). Modeled after Oregon's successful 1997 Death with Dignity Act, AB 654 would allow terminally ill, mentally capable adults, with six months or less to live, to legally obtain and use prescriptions to end their suffering.

To protect against misuse, AB 654 has stringent safeguards in place, including the following: the patient must be a California resident; two physicians must agree that the patient has less than six months to live; the patient must be mentally capable of making an informed decision; the patient must make two oral requests and one written request; the patient must self-administer the prescription, no one can assist; and physicians may refuse to write a prescription.

According to a March Field Poll, 70% of Californians support the idea that "incurably ill patients have the right to ask for and get life-ending medication." Furthermore, 68% of the public would personally want to have this option if they themselves were terminally ill. By large margins, these views are held by voters regardless of party affiliation, religious persuasion, or ethnicity.

Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law has worked successfully for the past seven years. According to government surveys in Oregon, physicians became more focused on pain management and hospice services after the act became law. End-of-life care improved across the board. Few people take medication to hasten death, but many thousands find comfort and courage knowing it is there in case they need it.

Terminally ill, mentally competent patients have the right to make the decision to hasten their own death on their own terms, and this bill enables doctors to respect their wishes. Californians value personal liberty and freedom of religion. Legal aid-in-dying, with careful safeguards, respects the rights of individuals to live and die according to their own values and religious beliefs.

I strongly urge you to support AB 654, the California Compassionate Choices Act.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]

Background Information

Ten Things to Know about California's Compassionate Choice Act:

1. Terminally ill patients deserve the legal right to choose medication to hasten death if desired.
2. It's about quality of life at the end of life.
3. AB 654 gives the dying the power to choose, not death over life, but one form of death over another.
4. AB 654 has stringent safeguards in place, including the following: two physicians must agree that the patient has less than six months to live; the patient must be mentally capable of making an informed decision; the patient must make two oral requests and one written request; the patient must self-administer the prescription, no one can assist; and physicians may refuse to write a prescription. Seven years of data are now available online.
5. A dying patient who chooses to exercise their right under this proposed law, must be certified as mentally competent by at least two physicians.
6. The patient maintains control at every stage, and has autonomy as to the timing and means of closure in their life.
7. According to a February 2005 survey conducted by Field Research Corporation, 70 percent of Californians support the idea that ‘incurably ill patients have the right to ask for and get life-ending medication.' In addition, 68 percent of the public, including 62 percent of seniors age 65 or older, would personally want to have this option if they themselves were terminally ill.
8. The proposed legislation ensures that any physician, pharmacist, or health care facility that is not in favor of death with dignity is not required to participate.
9. The bill does not allow non-residents to use the law nor does it allow anyone other than the patient to make the request.
10. The proposal is based on Oregon's Aid in Dying law, which has been in effect since 1997 with no documented case of abuse. The bill explicitly prohibits lethal injection, "mercy killing" and active euthanasia, typically defined as having someone other than the patient administer a life-ending medication. Medication would only be available to terminally ill people with a prognosis of six months or less to live.

For more information visit Californians for Aid in Dying, or call 866-569-CFAD (2323).

Survivors of terminally ill patients tell of their loved ones' deaths, and the need for Compassionate Choices
Peaceful, painless deaths surrounded by loved ones in Oregon Contrast with violent suicides in other states. Read the Press Release Thursday, December 8th, 2005

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