Making a Good Law Better
We are happy to share the following op-ed submission written by Board member Fran Johns who recently sent it to the San Francisco Chronicle. It has yet to be published, but it is well worth sharing with our readers now. EOLCCA is very supportive of these changes in the current law and applaud our California lawmakers for spearheading this effort.
Senator Eggman’s Amendment
The California Legislature is facing a rare opportunity: making a very good law better. Senator Susan Eggman’s SB380 amendment to the California End of Life Option Act will do precisely that. Among other provisions, the amendment would reduce the 15-day waiting period to 48 hours. This waiting period, along with the requirement for a second “attestation” document, has turned out to be one of the flaws of the End of Life Option Act. Because many people put off invoking the law until their final weeks, these provisions became a cruel reality – lives ended in agony before relief could be secured.
Those of us who have worked with terminally ill individuals, particularly those wanting to explore all options available to Californians, know the End of Life Option Act to have been a blessing ever since it became effective in June of 2016. This new amendment will remove its flaws, giving some flexibility to dying patients and their physicians, and making the act more effective. As an octogenarian who doesn’t handle pain and suffering well and who is grateful for the California law, I am particularly anxious for that law to be as effective as possible.
Opt Out
The End of Life Option Act (EOLOA) rightly allows for physicians to opt out if they have personal or religious convictions that make them unwilling to participate in medical aid in dying (MAID.) What has become clear, however, is that much of the law is dangerously murky. Healthcare facilities often deliberately obscure the fact that they will not allow participation in EOLA, and patients often discover, too late, that their physicians will not help them. When one is near death, it is not a good time to have to start looking for a new physician or healthcare facility in order to have one’s wishes honored. This new amendment will correct these flaws by requiring healthcare facilities to post their MAID policies on their websites and prohibit them from withholding truthful and accurate information from their patients.
If recent years have taught us anything it is the critical importance of truth and transparency. Truth and transparency are even more important to a dying person, along with autonomy, personal choice and the relief of unnecessary suffering. SB380 covers them all.
Co-authored by Democratic Senators Jim Cooper and Jim Wood, SB380 has the sponsorship of Democrats Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Rob Bonta, Jim Frazier, Cristina Garcia and Luz Rivas; and has been endorsed by Death with Dignity National Center, Compassion and Choices and End of Life Choices California. It should be swiftly passed.
→ For more information or to get involved in the work to support this bill, go to Death With Dignity National Center and Compassion & Choices.