Gov. Brown Signs End of Life Option Act, Legalizing Assisted Suicide for Terminally Ill
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
(5,537 posts)With his seminary background I was worried about this.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)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
(36,281 posts)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.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)baran
(92 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)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
(53,410 posts)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
(78,249 posts)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
(18,652 posts)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
(78,249 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)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
(78,249 posts)Hoppy
(3,595 posts)Hoppy
(3,595 posts)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
(78,249 posts)In other words, he had acquired a disability. This is what concerns us.
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)kairos12
(12,873 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)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
(53,410 posts)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
(79 posts)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
(54 posts)Too bad he's not running for POTUS. I'd vote for him, and wouldn't give a damn about his age!
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)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
(50,566 posts)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
(12,882 posts)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
(3,595 posts)in Purgatory.
LostOne4Ever
(9,290 posts)[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]AS should be legalized nationwide![/font]
olddots
(10,237 posts)thankyou Jerry Brown .
stopwastingmymoney
(2,042 posts)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
(1,144 posts)The modern medical system scares me much more than death does.
Auggie
(31,191 posts)Omaha Steve
(99,727 posts)K&R!
OS
vlakitti
(401 posts)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.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Bonobo
(29,257 posts)This is so important.
maggies farm
(79 posts)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
(53,235 posts)Not everyone wants a suicide by cop, although that's probably easier than jumping off a high bridge.
flamingdem
(39,328 posts)for California
nirvana555
(448 posts)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
(39,328 posts)your thanks and blessings to her family!
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)He allowed so much political/local economy damage to Ca. while he was playing around with the 'help'
Myrina
(12,296 posts)n/t
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)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.