Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'I Wouldn't Deny That Right To Others': Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Aid-In-Dying Measure
In a rare personal message, California鈥檚 77-year-old governor provided insight into his deliberations before deciding to sign a bill allowing terminally ill Californians to legally take their own lives, reflecting on religion and self-determination as he weighed an emotionally fraught choice. Gov. Jerry Brown, a lifelong Catholic and former Jesuit seminarian, said he consulted a Catholic bishop, two of his own doctors and friends 鈥渨ho take varied, contradictory and nuanced positions.鈥 (Williams, 10/5)
The California law will permit physicians to provide lethal prescriptions to mentally competent adults who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and face the expectation that they will die within six months. The law will take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns its special session on healthcare, which may not be until next year 鈥 January at the earliest, November at the latest. (McGreevy, 10/5)
Brown鈥檚 signature concludes a hotly contested debate that elicited impassioned testimony from lawmakers, cancer patients who fear deaths marked by uncontrollable pain and suffering and religious and disability advocates who fear coercion and abuse. (Dembosky and Gorman, 10/5)
One of the measure鈥檚 most prominent opponents has been Los Angeles Archbishop Jos茅 Gomez. When the bill passed the legislature last month, Mr. Gomez said the legislation would put pressure on the state鈥檚 poorest communities. (Lazo, 10/5)
Brown's signature concludes a 23-year effort to pass a "right-to-die" law in a state of 39 million, more than quadrupling Americans' access to life-ending drugs, with one in eight people living in states where it is now legal. (10/5)
Advocates, including some terminally ill people, framed the bill as a matter of compassion in hours of emotional testimony at the Capitol. Opponents said they feared legalizing assisted death would exert pressure on frail and elderly people to end their lives to avoid burdening others. (Siders and Koseff, 10/5)
The California bill was inspired by Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old San Francisco Bay Area resident who gained national attention for her decision to move to Oregon to take advantage of the state's longstanding aid-in-dying law. Maynard had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, but as a California resident, could not pursue end-of-life options at home. (Reilly, 10/5)
