California Bill will expand law from assisted suicide to euthanasia and more.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

California Senator Catherine Blakespear (D) has sponsored the most extreme assisted suicide expansion bill in America by introducing Senate Bill 1196. 

SB 1196 will expand the California assisted suicide law by:

1. Changing the criteria from terminally ill (6 month prognosis) to the Canadian model: “a grievous and irremediable medical condition.” meaning No time limit.

2. Allow people with early to mid-stage dementia to consent to assisted suicide/euthanasia; even though they have a condition that impairs their capacity to consent. 

3. Allow euthanasia—by IV, as in Canada. Currently, California permits assisted suicide (lethal poison that a person takes orally at the time and place of their own choosing, with or without witnesses)

4. Remove the California residency requirement. This would allow California to join Oregon and Vermont, which dropped their residency requirements and now allow suicide tourism.

5. Remove the 48 hour waiting period between first and second request by the patient. Same day death. 

6. The California assisted suicide law is scheduled to sunset in 2031. This bill proposes to remove the sunset date.

Changing the California assisted suicide law to euthanasia, is not simply changing how the act is done it is legalizing a new act by amending California Homicide Laws. Assisted suicide requires medical practitioners to be directly involved in an act of killing someone. Euthanasia requires the medical practitioner to actively carry out the act. Canada legalized euthanasia by creating an exception to homicide, California will need to do the same.

Changing the criteria from a terminal illness (6 months prognosis) to having a 'grievous and irremediable medical condition' will lead to people with disabilities "qualifying" for death by lethal poison for reasons of poverty, homelessness, an inability to obtain necessary services or difficulty with obtaining medical treatment as has happened in Canada. (Article Link).

Euthanasia is sold to the public as allowing competent adults who are capable of consenting to die by lethal poison. Allowing euthanasia for people with dementia permits medical practitioners to kill someone who is not competent and unable to consent.

Removing the 48-hour waiting period will enable a same day death by euthanasia.

Homicide tourism would be permitted if Bill SB 1196 is passed since the bill permits death by euthanasia/homicide and it removes the California residency requirement.

Thank you to Dr Mark Komrad for alerting me to the purpose of Bill SB 1196.

California needs to reject Bill SB 1196.

Don't follow Canada's lead.