A judge overturned a California law that allows doctors to prescribe life-ending medications to terminally ill patients who request it.
Judge Daniel Ottolia of the Riverside County Superior Court ruled that the state’s assisted suicide law, the End of Life Option Act, had been passed unconstitutionally because it was done by the legislature during a special session that had been intended to focus on healthcare.
A legal organization that opposes California’s law, called Liberty Counsel, praised the ruling.
“During a special session to address Medicaid shortfalls, legislators pushed a bill designed to kill people,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the group. “It seems clear that a session devoted to help people receive medical care so they can live is incompatible with a bill to facilitate their death. Special sessions are just that — a session devoted to a specific topic.”
The judge is holding his ruling for five days to allow the state time to file an emergency appeal. Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he plans to.
“We strongly disagree with this ruling and the state is seeking expedited review in the Court of Appeals,” he said.
The organization Compassion and Choices, which has advocated for the passage of similar laws in other states, said it believed that the court has misinterpreted the state constitution.
[Opinion: Doctor-prescribed suicide is never the answer]
“Medical aid in dying is a recognized healthcare option,” John Kappos, a partner in the O’Melveny law firm representing Compassion and Choices. “Ultimately, we are confident an appeals court will rule the legislature duly passed the End of Life Option Act and reinstate this perfectly valid law, which the strong majority of Californians support.”
Under California’s law, as in other states with similar laws, patients must have no more than six months to live and must demonstrate to two doctors that they are mentally competent. The medication is ingested by a patient in liquid form, not administered through a needle by a doctor, as other countries allow. From June 2016 to June 2017, 504 people were prescribed the life-ending medication in California, but not all of them took it. State data show that 111 people took the drug in the first seven months the law was in effect.
Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington state and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing the practice. Montana doesn’t have a specific law on the books, but the state Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that doctors could use a patient’s request for fatal medication as a defense against criminal charges.
Critics of the laws say that they eventually will target vulnerable groups including older adults, while supporters say that people who will otherwise suffer painful deaths should have the option to have more control over how they die.
