Methinks A.B. 374, the bill to legalize assisted suicide in California, may be in some trouble. The authors have—sort of—amended the bill to require a three months left to live rather than a six months left to live standard, before a lethal prescription can be written in the “Safeguards” section. I say “sort of” because the bill still defines a terminal illness as six months left to live in the definitions section. Also, the application form still has the 6 month time. To me, this indicates a rushed effort to convince reluctant assembly persons to go along, as time to pass the bill out of the Assembly this year is running out.
The issue isn’t the time, but the principle. Assisted suicide is bad medicine and worse public policy. I just hope resisting legislators don’t get seduced by this newest gambit.
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