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Physician-Assisted Suicide to Become Legal in California

Governor Jerry Brown signed the "End of Life Option Act" on Monday, granting terminally ill patients in California the right to end their lives with the help of a physician. The bill will take effect in 2016 and culminates a 23-year effort to legalize medically-assisted suicide in the state. Supporters say the legislation will give people who are dying a legal alternative to a painful and prolonged death. Opponents of the law fear it will lead to unnecessary or even coerced deaths.
Michael Krasny
 (Courtesy: Compassion & Choices)

Governor Jerry Brown signed the “End of Life Option Act” on Monday, granting terminally ill patients in California the right to end their lives with the help of a physician. The bill will take effect in 2016 and culminates a 23-year effort to legalize medically-assisted suicide in the state. Supporters say the legislation will give people who are dying a legal alternative to a painful and prolonged death. Opponents of the law fear it will lead to unnecessary or even coerced deaths.

Gov. Jerry Brown's Message After Signing End of Life Bill

Guests:

Marilyn Golden, senior policy analyst, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)

April Dembosky, health reporter, The California Report

Toni Broaddus, California campaign director, Compassion & Choices

David Magnus, director, Center for Biomedical Ethics; Thomas A. Raffin Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Ethics and Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University

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