The issues surrounding end-of-life decisions have been front and center this year in the California Legislature as lawmakers consider so-called right-to-die legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to end their own lives with medication prescribed by doctors. The California Medical Association removed its longstanding opposition to the idea, allowing SB128 to pass the state Senate. The issue gained traction nationally after a well-organized campaign by the family of a former California woman who moved to Oregon to end her life last year. The Sacramento Press Club hosted a discussion on the medical ethics surrounding aid-in-dying.
SPC was joined on June 30, 2015 by Janus Norman, senior vice president and chief lobbyist of the California Medical Association, Dr. Ben Rich, Professor and Chair of Bioethics at the University of California, Davis who specializes in physician-patient relationships and end-of-life care, and Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program in Medical Ethics at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine.