Saturday, June 6, 2015

California Governor Jerry Brown may need to veto assisted suicide bill SB 128.

Sign the online petition urging California Governor Jerry Brown to veto assisted suicide bill SB 128 (Link).

California Assisted suicide bill SB 128 protects doctors and other participants in a patient's death, including family members - but it does not protect patients. This is done in three ways:
  1. Taking the teeth out of patient protections;
  2. A near complete lack of transparency - in Oregon, similar confidentiality provisions preclude disclosure to law enforcement.
Patient choice and control is not assured by SB 128 instead it is a recipe for patient abuse. Other problems include steerage to suicide by healthcare providers and the risk of suicide contagion.

Marilyn Golden, Senior Policy Analyst for the California based Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, stated in an article published in the Los Angeles Times that:
“If this bill passes, some people’s lives will be ended without their consent, through mistakes and abuse. No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome, which can never be undone.”
California: Vote NO on assisted suicide bill SB 128.

Assisted suicide bill SB 128 was introduced in the California Senate on January 21, 2015. On March 25, SB 128 passed in the Senate Health Committee on April 7, SB 128 passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee and on June 4 SB 128 passed in the Senate. On June 23 there will be a hearing at the State capital at 1:30 pm in room 4202 on the bill.

Assisted suicide bill SB 128 has not gone to a vote in the California House yet, but the assisted suicide lobby is running a big campaign in California which may require Governor Jerry Brown to veto the bill.

Sign the online petition urging California Governor Jerry Brown to veto assisted suicide bill SB 128 (Link).

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