Summary

Makes it a legal act for a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication in an act to hasten death for persons that are terminally ill.

Background

This bill seeks to enact the California Compassionate Choices
Act, which, if successful, will make California only the second
state in the nation to permit a physician to respond to repeated
requests of a competent, terminally ill patient by writing a
prescription for medication which, if taken by the patient, will
hasten the end of his or her life in an arguably more humane and
dignified manner. This legislation thus forces us to grapple
with some of the most difficult and troublesome questions we can
ever face, including the meaning and value of life and death.
The Committee passed a very similar measure by Assemblywoman
Aroner (which had fewer patient protections than this proposal)
back in 1999. Last session two bills substantially similar to
AB 374 were considered by the Legislature. The Assembly
Judiciary and Appropriations Committee passed AB 654, which was
then held on the Assembly Floor, and AB 651 failed passage in
the Senate Judiciary Committee last year by a single vote.

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