California’s Stalled Right-to-Die Bill Will Come Too Late for Terminally Ill Mom

Christy O’Donnell, a California mom with terminal cancer, pictured here with her daughter, is a leader in the fight for the right to die in California. (Photo courtesy of Christy O’Donnell/Compassion & Choices)

Legislation that would have allowed terminally ill patients to legally end their lives in California stalled Tuesday amid strong opposition from religious groups, who claim that allowing doctors to prescribe life-ending medication is assisted suicide and goes against God’s will.

This bill was backed by Christy O’Donnell, a California lawyer and mother with terminal lung cancer — who was holding out hope that the bill could allow her the right to die on her own terms without legal repercussions for her doctor.

Yahoo global news anchor Katie Couric interviewed O’Donnell earlier this month. (Video: Yahoo News)

The authors of the right-to-die bill did not present the legislation to the Assembly Health Committee as scheduled because it did not have enough votes to advance, reports the Associated Press. The panel includes multiple Democratic lawmakers from heavily Catholic districts in the Los Angeles area, where the archdiocese actively opposed the legislation.

This holdup means the bill may still pass but cannot meet the deadline to pass committees this year, while some lawmakers remain uncomfortable with the bill, according to Christian Burkin, a spokesman for Assemblywoman Susan Eggman of Stockton, a sponsor of the bill.

For O’Donnell — who heard the news while she was receiving chemotherapy — that will most likely be too late.

“I’m trying very hard to remain optimistic,” O’Donnell, 46, tells Yahoo Health. “It was particularly tough for me to hear the news today and then come to the doctor’s office to hear that my last-ditch chemo that’s been working can no longer be used. Today’s news was extremely personal and difficult.”

O’Donnell believes the law will pass. “It’s just a matter of time,” she says. Indeed, a bipartisan poll last month showed 69 percent of California voters, including 70 percent of Latinos and 60 percent of Catholics, support SB 128, also known as the End of Life Option Act, and the bill sponsors are optimistic that it will pass.

“We continue to work with Assembly members to ensure they are comfortable with the bill,” Democratic Sens. Bill Monning of Carmel and Lois Wolk of Davis, and Assemblywoman Susan Eggman said in a joint statement. “We remain committed to passing the End of Life Option Act for all Californians who want and need the option of medical aid in dying.”

“My daughter and I both knew that the chance of me living long enough to see SB 128 though the legislative process was highly unlikely,” says O’Donnell. But it’s when she speaks about the hundreds of others who will be affected in the meantime that O’Donnell breaks down.

“I am literally overwhelmed with sadness for the number of people and their families who will need to suffer in the interim,” says O’Donnell. “For me that’s a very sad, sad thing.”

O’Donnell’s last chance to earn the right to die will come later this month on July 24, her 47th birthday. 

O’Donnell, two other patients with terminal cancer, and a hospice doctor filed a suit asking the state of California to immediately allow her doctor to prescribe life-ending medication without criminal prosecution.

A judge has ordered an expedited review of the case, meaning it will need to be decided within 120 days (ordinarily the litigation process takes one to two years, an amount of time that these patients don’t have).

“We are asking the court to issue an order not just for us but everyone else in this situation,” says O’Donnell.

The End of Life act in California and other states

California’s End of Life Option Act was modeled after Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, a law that legalizes physician-assisted dying with certain restrictions. End-of-life choice advocate and terminally ill brain-cancer sufferer Brittany Maynard, who rose to fame in 2014, moved to Oregon from California with her family to take advantage of the law. She ended her life in November with medication prescribed by her doctor, and Maynard’s family members advocated for the right-to-die bill in Sacramento after her death.

Related: Should a 17-Year-Old Be Allowed to Choose Death?

As of now, only Oregon, Vermont, Montana, and Washington allow doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminal patients, but laws similar to the End of Life Option Act are also making their way through the legal systems in New Mexico and New York.

“Seven out of every ten California voters want to see this bill become law, so we will not stop until we make that happen,” says Compassion & Choices California campaign director Toni Broaddus.

The California Medical Association had dropped its decades-long opposition to aid-in-dying legislation, saying the decision should be left up to individual doctors if they want to help patients end their lives.

“This issue is urgent for dying Californians like Jennifer Glass, Christy O’Donnell, Michael Saum, and hundreds of others who are suffering unbearably at the end of their lives,” says Broaddus.  “We are redoubling our commitment to passing the End of Life Option Act for all other Californians who want and need the option of medical aid in dying.”

“This battle is far from over,” Broaddus says. “We owe it to Brittany Maynard’s family and terminally ill Californians to pursue every available path to give them relief from unbearable suffering.”

With additional reporting by Korin Miller and the Associated Press

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