CA. Gov. Jerry Brown signs doctor-assisted death bill
Jerry Brown signs doctor-assisted death bill
California governor considers ‘what I would want in the face of my own death’
Brown spoke with his own doctors and a Catholic bishop about bill
Bill a blow to Catholic Church, victory for assisted-death advocates
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-...FREE_640/Brown
Governor Jerry Brown welcomes Special Olympics athletes and members of law enforcement for the official launch of the Law Enforcement Torch Run - the final leg of the journey to Los Angeles, at the State Capitol on Monday, July 13, 2015 in Sacramento, Calif. Randy Pench rpench@sacbee.com
BY DAVID SIDERS
dsiders@sacbee.com
Gov. Jerry Brown, issuing an unusually personal statement in which he said he “was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death,” signed legislation Monday allowing doctors to prescribe their dying patients lethal drugs.
Brown’s decision followed a fiercely contentious and emotionally charged debate over the ability of terminally ill people in the nation’s most populous state to end their lives.
In signing the bill, Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, dealt a blow to the Catholic Church and delivered a major victory to assisted-death advocates in the United States.
Video: Competing Capitol rallies urge action on assisted death
On opposite sides of the Capitol grounds Thursday, supporters and opponents of assisted death called on Gov. Jerry Brown to sign or veto the controversial bill. (Video by Alexei Koseff)
In a signing message, Brown said he had considered the opposition of some doctors, religious leaders and champions of disability rights, and also “considered the theological and religious perspectives that any deliberate shortening of one’s life is sinful.”
But Brown, 77, said that he also had considered the “heartfelt pleas” of the family of Brittany Maynard, a Bay Area woman with brain cancer who traveled to Oregon to die.
“I have discussed this matter with a Catholic Bishop, two of my own doctors and former classmates and friends who take varied, contradictory and nuanced positions,” Brown wrote. “In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death.”
“I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.”
Brown, a fourth-term Democrat, had given no indication how he would act on the bill, though his office released a statement in August criticizing the use of a special legislative session to advance the measure outside of the normal legislative process. The measure passed over the objections of many Republicans and some Democrats.
Video: Emotions flow in Assembly debate on assisted-death bill
Members of the California Assembly spent nearly two hours in sometimes tearful debate over a bill that would legalize physician-assisted death for the terminally ill. The measure passed and now faces the Senate, where it has passed before. Its fate with G
Like many Democratic Catholics, Brown breaks with the church on abortion rights and same-sex marriage, and he typically demurs when asked to discuss his own religious practices.
While in Vatican City for climate talks this summer, Brown said, “You’d have to say I’m a rather independent thinker in both political and religious matters, but I am steeped in the tradition of the Catholic Church and the Jesuit order.”
Yet the doctor-assisted death bill, which the Legislature passed on the final day of this year’s session, arose amid increasing focus on the church. Brown employed Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change to rally support for his own greenhouse gas reduction efforts, and the pope’s visit to the United States came as Brown weighed physician-assisted death.
Brown speaks frequently about his own mortality, typically lightheartedly. But he also brings his age up in the context of climate change, arguing its most significant effects will not be felt until after he dies.
Brown was treated for a common type of skin cancer in 2011 and for prostate cancer in 2012. He said soon after that he had fully recovered.
The bill, by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, followed decades of failed efforts by activists in the Legislature and at the ballot box. Voters rejected a physician-assisted death measure in 1992, but a majority of Californians have shown support for assisted death in more recent years.
Advocates said it is compassionate to let people afflicted with terminal illnesses die. Opponents said making physician-assisted death an option would exert pressure on frail and elderly people to end their lives to avoid burdening others.
The bill limits assisted death to patients predicted to die within six months, and it requires approval from multiple physicians.
The legislation was modeled on a law enacted in Oregon in 1997. Washington and Vermont have also legalized assisted death.
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