Gov. Brown Signs End of Life Option Act, Legalizing Assisted Suicide for Terminally Ill

[kpete]

Source: KTLA

Caught between conflicting moral arguments, Gov. Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit seminary student, on Monday signed a measure allowing physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who want to hasten their deaths.

Approving the bill, whose opponents included the Catholic Church, appeared to be a gut-wrenching decision for the 77-year-old governor, who as a young man studied to enter the priesthood.

In considering it, Brown said he had to “reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death.”

California becomes the fifth state to allow assisted suicide, following Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont.

Read more: http://ktla.com/2015/10/05/gov-brown-signs-medical-aid-in-dying-bill-legalizing-assisted-suicide-in-california/

[ripcord]

1. Thank you Jerry

With his seminary background I was worried about this.

[KamaAina]

2. Way to go, Jerry! </sarc>

Now the insurance companies won't have to pay for those pesky cancer treatments. This has already happened twice in Oregon -- that we know of. And as a person with a disability, it's nice to know that my life isn't valued here as much as in 45 other states.

[mike_c]

3. as a presently healthy person in the "autumn of life" I respectfully disagree....

I'm very happy to have legal control over the time and manner of my death. I don't look forward to slowly choking on my own fluids or some of the many other nasty ways to die a lingering death just to serve as an illustration of some one else's morals and ethics.

[840high]

20. ....x10+

[Ruby the Liberal]

22. +1

[baran]

27. +1,000!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[wordpix]

28. x10000 and as my mother's end-of-life caregiver for 6 yrs. may I say

I am all for choosing the time/manner of my own death, too. Prop me up by a window with a water view and goodbye.

[lunatica]

7. Wow! I'm really surprised you feel that way

No one is forcing anyone to end their life. Would you force others to suffer for years waiting to die naturally just to make you happy?

I believe you wouldn't because I think you've always been a kind person.

[KamaAina]

25. "No one is forcing anyone to end their life."

That is precisely what we're concerned about. I have friends who are wheelchair users who get told, to their faces, "I'd rather be dead than be like you".

Now imagine the preson saying that is wearing a white lab coat and holding a syringe.

[wordpix]

30. what koolaid are you drinking? Your friends in wheelchairs need some good comebacks

but that has nothing to do with the issue we're talking about. Nor is anyone coming by to put away anyone else with a syringe, unless the "victim," an adult, has asked for it by choosing his time and place to end his own life.

You make this sound like it's murder. It's not. It's physician-assisted suicide and now it's legal in CA. Hurray! Wish it were legal in my state and I think I'll work on it.

[KamaAina]

33. Actually, I'm trying to keep from drinking any Kool-Aid.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

38. Who is "we"?

You and whomever else is apparently oblivious to the idea of a living will.

If you wish that all extraordinary means be made to save your life, go draw up a will stating as such. Even though almost every law on the books makes your position the default position anyway.

[KamaAina]

40. Disability rights activists

http://dredf.org/public-policy/assisted-suicide/

[Hoppy]

23. Its simple. Don't like assisted suicide? Don't use it. Just don't deprive others of the choice.

[Hoppy]

43. I think I owe you a more detailed response than an earlier one to this post.

My support of assisted suicide comes from watching my father slowly die from cancer. He was diagnosed in July of 1998 with throat cancer. He was 85. Surgeon removed his larynx and believed he had removed all of the cancer.

He didn't.

The cancer returned with a vengeance... described as aggressive. He was now left with pain, discomfort and without the ability to express his needs except to write on a chalkboard.... Water... Change my position, prop me up... and so forth.

The oncologist said the best we could hope for was a heart attack in response to the stress and pain he would experience. He entered hospice in September. From there, things went slowly downhill until he started to drift into coma. That was in November. A nurse told my mother they would have to sew his eyelids shut because his eyes were not generating enough moisture and they would dry up and shrink unless someone was there to moisten his eyes. My mother stayed with him 18 to 20 hours each day.

By December, there was little interaction with him. He continued mostly unconscious until he finally died on Christmas, 1998.

I don't know if he would have wanted assisted suicide if it were available to him. All I know is that if it were me, I would have done so by October of that year.

I do not want to consider the thought of my dying under similar circumstances.

[KamaAina]

44. "He was now left... without the ability to express his needs except to write on a chalkboard"

In other words, he had acquired a disability. This is what concerns us.

[Hoppy]

45. After he acquired a disability, his organs began to shut down. There was the focus of my concern.

[bemildred]

4. Bless you, Jerry. nt

[kairos12]

5. Thank you Gov. Brown.

[SoapBox]

6. Thank you Jerry!

And, I assume that this will be very similar to Oregon's law.

One cannot just make a snap decision...it is a process and has multiple layers...you must be able to make you own decision, being of "sound" mind...It will give those that are facing a terminal disease, the ability to control how the end of their life happens.

NO ONE can force a person to use this system...I heard this used a couple of times to protest against such laws. I say, BUTT out of this process.

[lunatica]

8. Yes! Thank you Jerry Brown

I wonder if there's some legality some of us can do so it's known now that if the time comes and we have Dementia, that your wishes will be honored. I know my mother made me her Power Of Attorney and made a will saying she did not want to be kept alive by a machine.

[maggies farm]

35. This law would not help you

Power of attorney does not suffice as it is presently. the person with dementia cannot allow someone else to be a surrogate in the decision. With the projected increase in Parkinson's all neurological degenerative conditions needs some alteration of the law to facilitate them allowing love ones - legal guardians with power of attorney to help follow through in what the person with dementia would have wanted known long before their final 6 months.

[solar Max]

9. He's been great for this state

Too bad he's not running for POTUS. I'd vote for him, and wouldn't give a damn about his age!

[CountAllVotes]

12. I voted for Jerry Brown when he ran for President of the USA!

It was a long time ago in the late 1970s. He was a fierce candidate at the time wearing a sleek pin stripe suit and screaming at the top of his lungs that he was a running for President of the United States of America.

He is a fine example of what a real American is -- a man that has spent most of his life in public service.

I'd vote for him in a second if he were to run for president again -- damn right I would!!

((((Jerry Brown))))

I knew Gov. Brown would NEVER allow personal beliefs to effect anything on his agenda and that he would honor what We the People want!

& recommend!!

[Arugula Latte]

10. Washington, Oregon, and now California.

Yay for our west coast!

Personally, I feel peace of mind knowing I can end my life if it becomes unbearable.

And, once again, the fucking Catholic Church is on the side of suffering and the oppression of freedom.

[Plucketeer]

15. Yeah, can't you just SEE some suffering individual

in extreme pain - saying: "No Thanks. This is what God has planned for me. I know all my beloved are feeling good about witnessing my unbearable misery as I linger on in pain!"

[Hoppy]

24. WhatdafuxamatterU? You're suppose to offer up your pain and suffering to release the souls

in Purgatory.

[LostOne4Ever]

11. K&R

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]AS should be legalized nationwide![/font]

[olddots]

13. Sometimes the cancer spreads and can't be stopped

thankyou Jerry Brown .

[stopwastingmymoney]

14. Thank you Governor Brown

I want this option for myself and believe I have a right to it.

I'm glad to be a Californian, today and always (well except that one time in 2008 )

[perdita9]

16. Thank you, Gov. Brown

The modern medical system scares me much more than death does.

[Auggie]

17. It's the right thing to do, Governor ...

[Omaha Steve]

18. I wish Nebraska would do this for me!

K&R!

OS

[840high]

19. Good.

[vlakitti]

21. Not a fan of Jerry Brown

at all. He's an austerity freak and a neoliberal in his present incarnation, but his decision to sign this bill is terribly impressive and important to me.

So at least 2 cheers for Jerry, here! You did something good.

[demmiblue]

26. K&R

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

29. Good on him. nt

[Thinkingabout]

31. Hopefully there will be other brave people who will step up and allow a person to die with dignity.

[Bonobo]

32. Thank you, Governor.

This is so important.

[maggies farm]

34. Unfortunately does not go far enough.

A friend of mine that I helped to caretake died of Huntington's Disease recently. The problem is that people that suffer from neurological disorders typically by the last 6 months of their lives cannot legally make the choice to end their life because they no longer have the cognitive ability. It is common for many people diagnosed with Huntington's' to initially go through a suicidal stage and are often prescribed medication for the ensuing depression (because it passes in the family genetics and they have witnessed family members succumb to the disease and know what lies ahead for them.

She would have happily made the choice for herself many years ago when you had all of her abilities, and would have been satisfied to end her life at the point of extreme cognitive decline, but could not because of the last 6 months requirement.

[valerief]

36. Good! Even suffering pets can be euthanized. Humans should have that right, too.

Not everyone wants a suicide by cop, although that's probably easier than jumping off a high bridge.

[flamingdem]

37. Jerry has been veddy, veddy good

for California

[nirvana555]

39. I had signed up earlier this year to be a volunteer for this organization/cause if necessary.

I'm so, so thrilled that our State Legislature and our Governor have now made this a reality starting in 2016. Thank God. I guess we can say that Brittany did not die in vain. I'd love to senthree family an email, bless their hearts...

[flamingdem]

42. I hope you can find a way to send

your thanks and blessings to her family!

[Sunlei]

47. yes, I was worried Ca.would never get rid of The Terminator :)

He allowed so much political/local economy damage to Ca. while he was playing around with the 'help'

[Myrina]

41. Looks like I'm retiring in CA when the time comes ...

n/t

[Sunlei]

46. I hope the for profit prisons don't ramp-up use of this new law to get rid of the not profitable,

sick and elderly 'lifers'.

Plenty of people have the 20, 40, year strict prison sentences our states love to hand out and slowly die in prison 'hospitals'. I don't think the 'for profits' like to spend much on healthcare of prisoners anyway. No one seems to care.