The California End of Life Option Act went into effect on June 9, 2016. This compassionate option allows for an eligible terminally ill adult, with a prognosis of six months or less to live, to request and receive a prescription form their doctor that they can self-ingest to peacefully end their suffering.
SB 403, introduced by Senator Catherine Blakespear, seeks to make the End of Life Options Act a permanent law by removing the sunset provision that would expire the law on January 1, 2031. On June 4th, the bill passed out of the Senate with a vote of 25-6. On July 8, the Assembly Health committee passed SB 403 by a vote of 13-2. On July 15, the Assembly Health Committee held a hearing on SB 403 and passed the bill 8-2. The California Legislature will now go on recess until September, when our bill is expected to be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and then move to the Assembly floor for a vote.
We will continue to work on reauthorizing this law, removing the sunset provision, and reducing barriers to access while ensuring safeguards remain intact.
The CDSS issued a notice to adult and senior care facilities about the End of Life Option Act. Residents who qualify for medical aid in dying living in assisted facilities and other adult or senior care facilities are able to take their medication in their home and can’t be evicted for choosing this option.
California volunteer Susan Meister has a powerful motivator for supporting “The End-of-Life Option Act” in her state. “I’ve been very close to some of the ethical issues that physicians deal with every day: the miracles that new technology can bring to medicine and the horrors that it wreaks on people who don’t seem to grasp…
(Sacramento, CA – Jan. 21, 2015) Just a few months after 29-year-old Californian Brittany Maynard had to utilize an Oregon law to end her suffering from terminal brain cancer, two California senators today announced they have authored similar legislation in California. Brittany Maynard’s mother and husband, Compassion & Choices, and a diverse array of supporters praised…
When Barbara Engdahl read about Compassion & Choices in a magazine five years ago, she immediately called to volunteer. Her career as a social worker helping patients and their families deal with injury, illness, disability and death – and her own mother’s death when she was 11 years old – have given Barbara the wisdom and acceptance…
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Compassion & Choices Gift Processing Center
PO Box 485
Etna, NH 03750
