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Senior News February, 2005 Vol. 26. No. 2
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
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Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
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Legislation to be introduced Terminally ill patients deserve option to end their suffering by Patty Berg In just a few weeks, with my friend and colleague Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, I plan to introduce a bill that would give terminally ill Californians with less than six months to live the right to control their own dying. It will be very closely modeled on Oregon's landmark Death With Dignity Act. For the last seven years, Oregon has been the only state in the nation where terminally ill patients have the option of ending their lives. I hope we can change that. As you may know, California already has some right-to-die legislation in the form of advanced health care directives and durable powers of attorney. These make sure a person's wishes are honored if he or she becomes unable to express them. But in the case of mentally competent, terminally ill adults, we can and should do more. We should allow them to die on their own terms, with the peace and comfort of knowing they have a choice and that they could escape unbearable suffering if that were to occur. This means eligible, dying patients can obtain prescriptions for life-ending medication and can administer it themselves. I know that death is a subject that elicits strong emotions. And I know that there are people who oppose this legislation. I respect their firmly held, faith-based objections, but I feel very strongly that we can't let other people's beliefs determine what choices we can and can't make for ourselves. There's been plenty of time to study the Oregon experience, seven years' worth. And they found that not only have there been no abuses, but end-of-life care for all patients has actually improved. Doctors there are more determined than ever to meet the needs of their terminally ill patients, many of whom are relieved simply to know they have power to make decisions about their own dying. Californians deserve the comfort of having this choice at the end of their lives. Patty Berg represents the First Assembly District, which includes Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mendocino and Lake counties and portions of Sonoma County. She can be reached at her Eureka office, 445-7014, or by e-mail at assemblymember.berg @assembly.ca.gov. |
Senior News