Assisted suicide bill clears hurdle
Proponents plead for death with dignity; opponents warn of economic pressure to end lives prematurely.
By Jim Sanders - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

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Tom McDonald, left, holds Louise Schaefer's hand after her daughter Kim Nicols, right, reads her mother's testimony in support of legislation to legalize assisted suicide at an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. McDonald has terminal melanoma; Schaefer suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease. AB 374 cleared the commitee 7-3.
Sacramento Bee/Paul Kitagaki Jr.




Tom McDonald and Louise Schaefer asked California lawmakers Tuesday for the right to take their own lives.

They left the Capitol pleased.

Legislation to make California the second state to allow doctors to prescribe fatal medication to terminally ill patients was approved 7-3 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Nearly identical legislation died last year in the Senate, but supporters received a boost recently when Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez signed on as a joint author.

"My time is ticking," Schaefer, a 64-year-old Lincoln resident stricken with fatal Lou Gehrig's disease, also called ALS, said in a statement read Tuesday by her daughter, Kim Nicols.

"I won't get better, only worse day by day," she said. "Passing this bill will bring me peace of mind and soul."

McDonald's voice choked as he described how he is dying from melanoma.

"Don't condemn me to a death that is so insidious, with unbelievable pain and no relief," said McDonald, 77, of Lake Oroville. "I've had a wonderful life, and I can accept my death. I just want to face that death with compassion and dignity."

But opponents blasted AB 374 as a devaluation of life that could prompt some Californians to hasten death because of economic pressure on their families.

The California Medical Association claims the bill would compromise medical ethics and could create a "slippery slope" toward allowing fatal prescriptions for people suffering from major disabilities or chronic but non-terminal illnesses.

"We are reminded of the injunction that we learned the first day in medical school: First, do no harm," said Dr. Richard S. Frankenstein, the CMA president-elect.

"The concerns of patients near the end of life are important, but issues they face, whether they be pain or other symptoms, can virtually always be substantially (eased.)"

Dr. Jay Cohen, representing a separate medical group, the California Association of Physician Groups, supported AB 374.

"We must not forget that patient care is all about the patient," he said.

Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, said he feels a moral obligation to preserve life.

"You better darn well believe that I want to impose my morality on these people," said Adams, one of three Republicans who voted against AB 374.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that assisted suicide is best left to voters.

Committee Chairman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, called it "one of the most important and profound" issues facing the Legislature.

A Field Poll last year found that 70 percent of California adults support the general idea of allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives.

AB 374 is patterned after a similar law in Oregon, where from 1998 through 2006, 292 patients ended their lives and 460 completed the process but did not ingest the fatal medication.

In California, supporters claim AB 374 contains numerous safeguards against abuse or deadly mistakes.

The legislation bans a prescription from being issued unless two doctors agree on the diagnosis and the projection that a patient has less than six months to live.

The bill also contains provisions to ensure that patients are mentally competent, make informed decisions, receive any counseling needed, and are not coerced by relatives or others.

To prevent hasty decisions, AB 374 requires terminally ill patients who desire lethal medication to request it at least once in writing and twice orally over a period of time. The bill requires that they ingest it themselves.

Doctors with moral objections would not be required to issue such prescriptions.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, a Van Nuys Democrat who is co-author of the bill, said AB 374, now headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, provides freedom of choice to people whose death is imminent.

"In my mind, it's clear that people don't want to die -- but they also don't want to suffer," he said.

Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, countered that some patients could kill themselves after receiving a mistaken prognosis.

"The people where we have made a mistake, they're dead," he said. "They're gone."

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