As opponents of California’s End of Life Option Act attempt to derail the law in Riverside County Superior Court on Monday, Death with Dignity National Center Board President George Eighmey says it is the doctors bringing the lawsuit who are really causing harm to terminally ill Californians seeking to use the law.
Eighmey, who will attend the Monday, July 25th, hearing, scheduled for 8:30 a.m., says the plaintiffs, funded by anti-choice groups, are not harmed by the implementation of the law. The End of Life Option Act clearly states healthcare professionals can refuse to participate.
Plaintiffs Not Harmed by End of Life Option Act
“There’s no harm to anyone who opts out and declines to participate,” says Eighmey.“If this misguided lawsuit is upheld the only harm would come to terminally ill patients who wish to use the law.”
Eighmey adds that California legislators’ and Governor Jerry Brown’s approval of the law last year kept faith with voters’ views. Polls of California voters show overwhelming support—72.5 percent—for allowing terminally ill people who meet the safeguards in the Act to self-administer medication to end their life peacefully.
“In every state where Death with Dignity laws have been approved, opponents have tried to stop implementation through the courts,” says Eighmey. “And every time the courts have sided with terminally ill patients. Make no mistake: the doctors and the anti-voice groups funding this lawsuit are political operatives attempting to derail the law in any way they can.”
Eighmey, a former Oregon state legislator, was instrumental in the passage of the law, working with legislators to craft the bill and testifying in front of legislative committees in support of the legislation.
Plaintiffs Denying Right to End of Life Option Act to Terminally Ill
“If opponents of the law, including these doctors, choose not to participate, that is their right under the End of Life Option Act. What they are attempting to do is deny the right to use this law to people in the end stages of life who are suffering,” says Eighmey. “The Death With Dignity National Center will be relentless in our efforts to protect patients from these political attempts to derail the law.”
Featured image by Brian Wilkins.
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