Terminally Ill Adults, Doctor File Notice of Appeal of Ruling Voiding California Medical Aid-in-Dying Law

Matt FairchildTwo terminally adults and a physician in California today filed a notice of appeal of a lower court’s decisions in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the California End of Life Option Act.  The decisions include the rejection on Wednesday of a motion filed by a physician and two terminally ill adults urging the judge to “vacate” (i.e., cancel) his judgment last week invalidating the law. The group requests state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to take a position on Compassion & Choices’ legal opinion that its notice of appeal with the 4th District Circuit of Appeal triggers an automatic stay of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia’s judgment. A stay would reinstate the law pending further court rulings. Similar to laws in six other states and Washington, D.C., the California law gives mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live the option to request prescription medication they can decide to take to end unbearable suffering and die peacefully in their sleep. “We are besieged with calls from anxious, confused, terminally ill Californians, doctors and health care providers about the status of the law,” said Kevin Díaz, national director of legal advocacy for Compassion & Choices, whose sister organization, Compassion & Choices Action Network, led the campaign to pass the End of Life Option Act. “It is becoming increasingly obvious that doctors and patients ...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs