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March 16, 2015
REMINDER: LETTER DEADLINE IS
TOMORROW
By Lori Arnold
Research Analyst
Given the often-overwhelming odds we face in
Sacramento, opportunities to make a true difference are
few and far between. But we have one of those times
right now!
Next week is a critical deadline in our efforts to
defeat Senate Bill (SB) 128, a legislative effort to legalize
assisted suicide in California. The Senate Health Committee will hear the proposal at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. In order to
have your concerns included in the official record for that hearing, the Health Committee must receive your letter by
tomorrow (Tuesday, March 17).
Because time is of the essence, we will only list the bill’s summary information and talking points in today’s This Week in the
Capitol. If you would like to read more about California Family Alliance’s assessment of this dangerous bill, you can read our previous
editions of This Week in the Capitol here.
In addition to the talking points, we have included a sample letter that you can fax to the committee. Please feel free to adapt the
letter, but keep in mind the tone and language. Our elected officials are more apt to give credence to correspondence that is courteous
and thoughtful.
In addition to sending a fax, if your representative serves on the committee, it would be helpful to visit their district office and let a
member of their staff know of your opposition to this measure. It is also appropriate to remind legislators that it is OK to not vote on
the bill.
Some people believe that assisted suicide is inevitable. But we know better! Although similar legislation has been tried more
than 100 times over the past 20 years, only three states have actually legalized it through legislative or voter action. Together, we
can defeat this deadly proposal!
Since phone calls and emails are not always logged, we recommend sending your letter directly to the committee chairman, with
copies also faxed to each member.
We can think of no other legislative task as valiant as protecting our state’s most vulnerable populations. We thank you for your
faithfulness in helping us to fight for that cause.
SB 128 (Wolk-Vacaville) End of life.
Summary: This bill would enact the End of Life Option Act authorizing an adult who meets certain qualifications, and who has
been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal illness, as defined, to make a request for
medication prescribed pursuant to these provisions for the purpose of ending his or her life. The bill would establish the procedures
for making these requests. The bill would also establish the forms to request aid-in-dying medication and under specified
circumstances an interpreter declaration to be signed subject to penalty of perjury, thereby imposing a crime and state-mandated
local program.
Senate Health Committee, March 25
Click here for full text of SB 128
Key CFA Talking Points:
•
SB 128 violates a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm.”
•
SB 128 ignores the subjective and unreliable practice of estimating a person’s life expectancy after receiving a terminal
diagnosis.
•
SB 128 disregards the role of depression that is frequently associated with terminal diagnoses, and only suggests that doctors
refer a patient to counseling “if appropriate.”
•
SB 128 downplays advances in palliative and hospice care, which can ease a terminal patient’s suffering during the end
stages of their disease.
•
SB 128 contains no provisions to track or review the total number of assisted-suicide cases, offering instead an annual review
of a “sample of certain records.” Statistical reports would only be complied from these sample records. Death certificates
would list only the underlying terminal illness, not assisted suicide.
•
SB 128 offers no impartial witnesses in case patients change their minds after seeking the death prescription.
•
SB 128 prohibits the issuance of insurance in relation to a request, but provides no investigation to be sure the patient is not
under financial duress in seeking the early death option.
•
SB 128 eliminates all liability and professional disciplinary action for doctors who assist patients with killing themselves.
•
SB 128 provides protections for doctors to opt out of participation, but as we’ve seen in past legislation across the country,
such protections are often wrested away in subsequent years.
•
SB 128 declares it a felony to falsify documents related to assisted suicide requests, but provides no mechanism to ensure
their legitimacy before the suicide.
Sample Letter
NOTE: Faxing letters is much more effective than telephone calls or emails, which are not always tracked.
To have your correspondence included in the official record in time for the hearing, letters must by faxed to the committee at
(916) 266-9438) by tomorrow (Tuesday, March 17). It is also advisable to fax copies to all committee members.
Contact information for each committee member is listed after the sample letter.
The Honorable Ed Hernandez, Chairman
Senate Health Committee
State Capitol, Room 2191
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: SB 128 (oppose)
Dear Chairman Hernandez:
I would like to add my voice to the growing number of medical and disability rights groups who oppose SB 128, the proposed law
to legalize assisted suicide in California.
As doctors and medical professionals across the country have continued to improve end-of-life care through advances in palliative
and hospice care, the potential for mistakes and abuse are too great to accept this measure. SB 128 simply carries too many risks.
Opposition to this bill is wide and is not contained to a single political party or ethnic group. Marilyn Golden, a progressive who
serves as Senior Policy Analyst of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund said in a recent Associated Press article that by
their nature, assisted-suicide laws inevitably result in people wrongly dying.
“No safeguards have ever been enacted or proposed that can prevent this outcome, which can never be undone,” Golden said.
I agree and so does research conducted in Oregon, Washington, Belgium and the Netherlands, areas that have already
implemented such laws.
The safeguards presented in SB 128 will not protect vulnerable patients from becoming casualties over the tug-of-war between
affordable health care insurance and the escalating costs to provide medical treatments. There is also no true way to protect against
undue influence for those who seek to profit from a patient’s early death. The true compassionate approach is to provide terminal
patients with a variety of viable life-affirming options, including physical, mental and emotional support.
A host of other organizations agree and stand united in opposition: Californians Against Assisted Suicide, the American Medical
Association, American College of Pediatricians, American Geriatrics Society, American Nursing Association, California Family Alliance,
California Catholic Conference, California Disability Alliance, Berkeley Commission on Disability, and Autistic Self Advocacy Network.
Please protect all Californians and oppose SB 128.
Sincerely,
Senate Health Committee
Phone: (916) 651-4111
Fax: (916) 266-9438
Chair Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4022
Fax (916) 651-4922
District Office (626) 430-2499
[email protected]
Vice Chair Janet Nguyen (R-Santa Ana)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4034
Fax (916) 651-4934
District Office (714) 558-4400
[email protected]
Isadore Hall, III (D-Inglewood)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4035
Fax (916) 651-4935
District Office (310) 412-0393
[email protected]
Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4030
Fax (916) 651-4930
District Office (213) 745-6656
[email protected]
Bill Monning (D-Monterey)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4017
Fax (916) 651-4917
District Office (831) 657-6315
[email protected]
Jim Nielsen (R-Roseville)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4004
Fax (916) 651-4904
District Office (916) 772-0571
[email protected]
Richard Pan (D-Sacramento)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4006
Fax (916) 651-4906
District Office (916) 651-1529
[email protected]
Richard Roth (D-Riverside)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4031
Fax (916) 651-4931
District Office (951 680-6750
[email protected]
Lois Wolk (D-Vacaville)
Sacramento Office (916) 651-4003
Fax (916) 651-4903
District Office (707) 454-3808
[email protected]