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.
Compassion & Choices Action Network is proud to share that, due to our advocacy and the leadership of Senator Catherine Blakespear and other legislative champions, SB 403, the bill to make the End of Life Option Act permanent, has been signed into law on October 3, 2025, by Governor Gavin Newsom. We are so pleased that in times of great uncertainty, we have worked alongside champions and partners to ensure that everyone in the Golden State will continue to have access to the End of Life Option Act in perpetuity.

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.
Ley Mejorada Funciona Como Esperaban Legisladores: Incrementar el Acceso Para los Californianos Que están Muriendo Un nuevo informe sobre el California End of Life Option Act o Ley de Opción de Fin de Vida de California que permite a los adultos con enfermedades terminales que se encuentran en pleno uso de sus facultades mentales, utilizar…
Enhanced Law Working as Lawmakers Intended: to Increase Access for Dying Californians A new report on California’s End of Life Option Act that allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults to use medical aid in dying to gently end their suffering shows 47% more Californians used the law in 2022, increasing access to the law exactly as intended….
Compassion & Choices is disappointed about the terms of the settlement of a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California’s revised medical-aid-in-dying law and the resulting permanent injunction issued by the court. The plaintiffs in this case, Christian Medical & Dental Associations v. Bonta, claim that the amended California End of Life Option Act, Senate Bill 380, forces them to…
Compassion & & Choices Action Network rechaza enérgicamente los argumentos de varios grupos de defensa para personas con discapacidades y dos personas con discapacidades que el miércoles presentaron una demanda federal en el Distrito Central de California contra funcionarios de California, para impugnar el End of Life Option Act o Ley de Opción de Fin…
Veteran Had to Borrow $2,100 to Pay for Medical Aid in Dying Because Federal Law Prohibits VA Insurance from Covering It (Los Angeles) To honor her first Veterans Day without her late husband, Sgt. Matt Fairchild, Ginger Fairchild has recorded a video urging Congress to repeal an antiquated federal law prohibiting VA insurance from paying for medical aid…
Four advocacy groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the California Supreme Court Monday, asserting that a patient’s advance directive appointing a healthcare agent to make their medical decisions does not authorize them to sign arbitration agreements on the patient’s behalf. The brief by Compassion & Choices, Consumer Attorneys of California, American Association for Justice, and Public Justice…
Married almost 49 years, Wendy Soderlund and Edward Pultz sensed signs of Wendy’s dementia long before seeking an official diagnosis in 2021. “It feels like something I’ve just known for a long time,” says Wendy. My mother had dementia, as did her father, and his mother, my great-grandmother. According to family history, she became a…
Un Veterano Tuvo que Pedir Prestado $2,100 para Pagar la Ayuda Médica para Morir, Porque la Ley Federal Prohíbe que el Seguro del VA la Cubra (Los Ángeles, CA – 11 de octubre de 2022) Para recordar su primer Día de los Veteranos sin su difunto esposo, el Sargento Matt Fairchild, Ginger Fairchild ha grabado…
An excerpt from the Los Angeles Times feature article, “One last trip: Gabriella Walsh’s decision to die — and celebrate life — on her own terms,” published August 1, 2022: Gabriella Walsh knew she wanted to die on a Saturday. She’d settled on July 16, dressing that morning in a flower crown and a T-shirt with a…
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