A group of doctors have filed a lawsuit to try and overturn a new California law that took effect Thursday that allows physicians to prescribe medications to terminally-ill patients who want to end their lives, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The lawsuit, which says the state’s physician-assisted suicide law is unconstitutional, was filed in Riverside County Superior Court by the Life Defense Foundation, the American Academy of Medical Ethics and several physicians, the newspaper reported. The suit argues that the law violates people’s civil rights because it takes protections away from terminally-ill patients.
California is one of five states in the country that have passed laws to allow physicians to help terminally-ill patients hasten their own deaths. California’s End of Life Option Act allows doctors to prescribe lethal medications to mentally competent patients with less than six months to live.
The law has raised ethical questions for many California doctors who have the right to decide whether they would prescribe such medications to a patient. Proponents of the law say it will help terminally ill patients avoid suffering at the end of their lives. Anticipating some patients who want to consider physician aid-in-dying won’t be able to find a doctor willing to help them, one Berkeley doctor has set up a practice to focus strictly on counseling patients considering physician-assisted suicide, FiercePracticeManagement previously reported.
To learn more:
- read the article