AB 2747 Passes Assembly

By Bobby Schindler

AB 2747 passed the California State Assembly by two votes. The bill will now go before the State Senate. This is not good news. The past two years California has failed to pass physician assisted suicide legislation, so Compassion and Choices, strong advocates for assisted suicide, adjusted their approach and are now leading the charge for the passage of AB 2747. From the story:

This new bill represents a strategy change for assisted suicide proponents and paves the way for their future efforts.

This bill would mandate that physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants give a patient, while being diagnosed with a terminal illness or with a prognosis of one year to live, information about pain management options that are fitting only for persons who are imminently dying.

Wesley has commented on AB 2747 and its hidden and potential dangers here, and here. Marilyn Golden, a disability rights advocate, who has commented before on the seriousness of this bill weighs in here:

“It sets the stage for Compassion and Choices’ hoped-for future legalization of assisted suicide in California. It would mandate that doctors discuss with patients still a year from death, unusual end-of-life courses of action including voluntarily starving and dehydrating themselves. The opposition by the doctors who are most experienced with end-of-life care, such as the Association of Northern California Oncologists, illustrates how medically inappropriate these mandates are.”

Time is running out to stop AB 2747 and if it passes the Senate then it would be up to Governor Schwarzenegger to veto the bill to stop it from becoming law. And with the Governor on record as saying that he is “very open- minded” on the issue of assisted suicide, it doesn’t look good, particularly with the language of AB 2747 so deceptive.