Compassion & Choices Action Network se unió hoy a legisladores de California en una conferencia de prensa virtual, para anunciar la presentación de un proyecto de ley que mejora el acceso al End of Life Option Act o Ley de Opción de Fin de Vida de California y evitar que dicha ley tenga caducidad a…

Compassion & Choices Action Network today joined California lawmakers in a virtual news conference today to announce the introduction of a bill to improve access to the California End of Life Option Act and prevent it from expiring in a few years. 

The End of Life Option Act took effect on June 9, 2016, authorizing the compassionate option of medical aid in dying for terminally ill, mentally capable adults to get a prescription they can take to end their life peacefully. The law included a sunset provision that would expire at the end of 2025 unless new legislation is passed. 

The new bill to amend the law, Senate Bill (SB) 380, would remove regulatory roadblocks to access the law that impede or outright prevent hundreds of Californians each year from using medical aid in dying to peacefully end their suffering. Here is a fact sheet about SB 380.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Thursday affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to undermine California’s legal definition of ‘brain death’ as ‘death.’ In 2018, Compassion & Choices filed an amicus brief in the case, Jonee Fonseca et al v. Karen Smith et al, defending California’s legal definition…

La Corte de Apelaciones del Noveno Circuito de Estados Unidos, afirmó la desestimación de una demanda en el Tribunal Inferior, que buscaba quebrantar la definición legal en California de “muerte cerebral” como “muerte”. En el 2018, Compassion & Choices presentó un amicus brief o escrito amicus en el caso Jonee Fonseca et al v. Karen…

Michael Saum always knew he was going to die from the massive tumor that invaded his brain. But he never imagined dying alone. Michael, 40, died August 6 at midnight at a rehab center in Southern California, where he lived for the last four years. In March, the facility was forced to shut their doors…

Compassion & Choices says that a new report on California’s law that allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults to use medical aid in dying to peacefully end their suffering shows that more people are using the law, but it needs to be easier to access. The California Department of Public Health released a report Tuesday…

As protests for racial justice in Portland continue and new images of the federal response emerge, I want to express my concern for the safety of the many Compassion & Choices staff, supporters, volunteers and allies who live there. Please know that we are thinking of you during this tumultuous time.   As a mom myself,…

This month, Hawaii and California departments of health released 2019 annual reports on their respective medical aid-in-dying laws. These reports provide data on how many people utilized medical aid in dying, how many doctors wrote prescriptions and other critical information related to the medical practice.  In the first full year of Hawaii’s Our Care, Our…

As a primary care physician in Los Angeles, Dr. Daniel Turner-Lloveras has been dedicated to providing care to vulnerable populations within the Watts and Skid Row areas of the city since early in his career. Then two years ago, while practicing at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, he stepped up to fill a different but no less…