Following in the footsteps of Oregon, the State of Washington, Montana and Vermont, it is now California’s turn to legalise assisted suicide. On Wednesday, the Californian Assembly voted in (by 43 votes to 34) a draft bill authorising doctors “to provide incurable patients with the treatment they need to end their life”. The draft bill stipulates that two doctors must “certify that the patient has no more than six months to live before prescribing the medication”.
This vote was held “after weeks of passionate debate” highlighted by the media coverage of a young woman with incurable cancer who left California last year to “move to Oregon to have access to assisted suicide”.
The Senate must review the bill between “now and the end of the week”. It must then be ratified by the governor. Those in favour of this law are “optimistic” about the outcome of the last two stages.
Le Figaro (10/09/2015) ; Ouest France (09/09/2015)