If I have a terminal illness, does California allow death with dignity, commonly called physician assisted suicide?

The short answer is yes.

Several clients have asked me about what they would have to do to move to Oregon to take advantage of their Death with Dignity law. They were shocked when I told them they do not have to. California has its own law, called the California End of Life Option Act, which went into effect in 2016. Certain changes went into effect on January 1, 2022 that reduced the waiting time required between the request and the fulfillment.

A quick note: Death with Dignity and the End of Life Option Act are also commonly called “physician assisted suicide.” Factually, this is not accurate because the purpose of the law is to allow certain terminally ill patients to request a drug that will end their life and they will NOT be considered to have committed suicide. Similarly, the physicians who follow the procedures with aid-in-dying drugs will NOT be subject to legal liability or professional sanctions.

To receive the aid-in-dying drug, a person must:

• Be 18 years or older

• Be a resident of California

• Have a terminal disease that cannot be cured or reversed and that is expected to result in
  death within six months

• Have capacity to make medical decisions and not have impaired judgment due to a mental
  disorder

• Have the physical ability to take and ingest the drug (orally, anally, or through an existing feeding tube) (Source: UCLA Health and Kaiser Permanente)

There is a procedure that must take place between the initial request for this option and the administration of the life ending medication. Please look into those rules if this is an option that is relevant to you and/or that you are considering.

If there are circumstances in which you would like to utilize this option, but it is not currently relevant to you, then you should discuss this with your estate planning attorney to ensure your wishes are clearly stated. That said, as you can see, one of the requirements is that you have the mental capacity to make this decision for yourself; your loved on cannot make this decision on your behalf if you are incapacitated.

Note that this is not legal advice, and this is simply a summary of the current state of the law with respect to aid in dying (also known as death with dignity, and end of life option).