California’s terminally ill patients can now choose to end their lives.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday that allows terminally ill people to deliberately shorten their life, becoming the fifth state in the nation to do so.
“I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain,” Brown wrote in a letter saying he would sign the bill. “I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill.”
Brown said the family of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who died of terminal brain cancer, also partly influenced his decision.
Maynard received national attention after she moved to Oregon to prematurely end her life last year.
California joins Oregon, Montana, Washington and Vermont as states with right-to-die laws.
