The new law is modelled on Oregon's statute, passed in 1997, which saw 105 people die by assisted suicide in that state last year.

Governor Brown said he had carefully read material opposing the new law presented by "numbers of doctors, religious leaders and those who champion disability rights".

"I have considered the theological and religious perspectives that any deliberate shortening of one's life is sinful."

Governor Brown also said he had spoken with a Catholic bishop.

California's Catholic bishops had called on him to veto the bill.

He had also spoken to supporters of the End of Life Option Act including the family of Brittany Maynard and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death," Governor Brown stated.

"I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain.

"I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill.

"And I wouldn't deny that right to others."

California's End of Life Option Act passed in the state's legislature in mid-September ahead of Pope Francis's trip to the US.

The California law will permit physicians to provide lethal prescriptions to mentally competent adults who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and face the expectation that they will die within six months.

Supporters of the new law say it has sufficient safeguards.

Oregon's law has been criticised for having unintended consequences, for degrading the quality of medical care, and for having inadequate state supervision.

California joins four other US states — Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont — in allowing physician-assisted suicide.

Sources

• Washington Post
• Los Angeles Times
• Los Angeles Times
• KGW.com
• Los Angeles Times
• Image: Infostormer.com

Maynard, a terminally ill 29 year old American ended her life last week home in Oregon, using drugs supplied legally to her under the state's Death with Dignity Act.

She worked as a volunteer advocate for the nation's leading end-of-life choice organisation, Compassion and Choices.

In the weeks leading up to her death, Maynard succeeded sparking a national discussion in the United States on "death with dignity."

A video explaining her choice garnered more than 8.8 million views on YouTube.

Kleinsman is sympathetic to individuals such as Brittany Maynard, but says he knows some young people in similar circumstances who don't want to end their lives.

"She offered herself up to be a poster girl for euthanasia. There would be immense pressure for a person in her position if she wanted to change her mind."

He says many people consider the argument as a question of choice, but it is not that simple.

He says legalising euthanasia "will actually take the choice of dying away and make people feel pressured into 'doing the right thing'."

He believes palliative care has improved so much that people don't need to die in pain.

Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, one of the Catholic church's leaders on bioethical issues and head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, called the decision to end one's life undignified, the Associated Press reports. "Brittany Maynard's act is in itself reprehensible," he told the ANSA news agency. "What happened in the consciousness we do not know."

de Paula stressed that he did not mean to pass judgement against Maynard herself, but rather took issue with Maynard's argument that people faced with devastating, terminal medical conditions should have the freedom to end their lives at a time of their choosing. "The gesture in and of itself should be condemned," Carrasco de Paula said.

In New Zealand Right to Life has expressed disappointment that Labour MP, Iain Lees-Galloway, has announced that he is preparing to resubmit to the ballot a private member's bill, "End of Life Choice bill"

The bill was initially proposed, but later withdrawn, by fellow Labour MP Maryan Street before the last election.

She said she was withdrawing it because she feared it would become a political football.

Street, a list MP, had intended to reintroduce the bill after the election but she she did not retain her seat.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• CNN
• CNN
• Time Magazine
• Time Magazine
• 3News.co.nz
• Right to Life
• Image: Screen Shot CNN

This is the question that must be asked after the attractive 29-year-old woman with a brain tumour announced earlier in the week that she would probably postpone the assisted suicide she had scheduled for Saturday, November 1.

"I still feel good enough, and I still have enough joy — and I still laugh and smile with my friends and my family enough — that it doesn't seem like the right time right now," she said in a YouTube video.

Sometime, yes, but not Saturday.

It must have been a bitter pill for Compassion & Choices, the assisted suicide lobby group which had used her as a poster girl for its campaign for legalisation.

The members of its boards of directors and advisors are nearly all in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Here was a winsome and articulate woman in her 20s, a woman who had attracted international media attention by setting a firm date for her assisted suicide, a woman who was a shining icon of everything they were fighting for.

And she had stepped back from the cliff's edge.

Then came news a few hours ago from Compassion & Choices. A Facebook post said: "We're sad to announce the passing of a dear and wonderful woman, Brittany Maynard. She passed peacefully in her bed surrounded by close family and loved ones."

It could be the opening for a Kay Scarpetta novel.

How can anyone be sure now that Brittany died freely?

How can anyone be sure that Compassion & Choices did not apply moral pressure on her to fulfil her commitment and not to disappoint the wonderful people who had made her famous?

Just for the record, I'm reasonably confident that everything about Brittany's death was completely aboveboard. No need to call in the detectives.

But one of the problems with assisted suicide is that the principal witness is no longer with us.

We can be pretty confident — but we can't be certain. Continue reading

• Michael Cook in MercatorNet
• See also, Fr Frank Brennan, Do we have a right to assisted suicide? in Eureka Street

Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet.

Msgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who is head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said there was no dignity in her physician assisted death.

Ms Maynard, 29, took a lethal prescription provided by a doctor under Oregon state's death-with-dignity law.

Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and was given only months to live

She died on November 1.

"We don't judge people, but the gesture in itself is to be condemned," Msgr Carrasco de Paula told Italy's ANSA news agency.

"Assisted suicide is an absurdity. Dignity is something different than putting an end to your own life," he said.

Ms Maynard became a media sensation after a video she posted on YouTube announcing her decision was viewed 9.8 million times.

This made her an appealing young face for the right-to-die movement.

She worked closely with the advocacy group Compassion and Choices.

But Msgr Carrasco de Paula said: "Killing yourself is not a good thing; it's a bad thing because it says no to life and to all that means in relation to our duty in the world and to those close to us."

He added that assisted suicide was also dangerous because it offered a potential "solution" for a society that sought to abandon the sick and quit paying the costs of their illnesses.

In a final Facebook posting, Ms Maynard wrote: "Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"

Only two days earlier, she released a video reconsidering the November 1 date she had set for her suicide.

She was still having good days with her family and friends, she said, and she wasn't sure if it was yet the "right time".

Janet Morana, executive director of the pro-life organisation Priests for Life, said: "Pray for Brittany for the repose of her soul, it's in the hands of God right now."

"Anything is possible with God. Don't put limitations on what God can do."

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• ANSA
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Taringa.net

In Brittany Maynard, advocates of assisted suicide have found their ideal spokeswoman.

She is not an aging hippy embittered by her loss of energy.

As far as one can tell, she is neither a radical individualist nor a nihilist.

She is, by all appearances, a loving, life-embracing young woman.

Before she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she and her husband were, in her words, "trying for a family." She continues to enjoy activities with loved ones.

She took up the cause of assisted suicide after she was diagnosed.

Despite the promises of contemporary palliative care, she faces an uncertain future that might well contain pain and indignities that none of us would wish upon our enemies, much less a newly wed young woman.

Because of her youth and overall health, her death in hospice might be prolonged.

The prospect of illness and death found Brittany Maynard; she did not go seeking it, at least initially.

But now she seeks something at least as dreadful as death.

She has sought and obtained the assistance of medical professionals in committing suicide.

In an essay published by CNN, she recently declared that she moved to Oregon to secure drugs with which to kill herself.

She has chosen to perform the deed shortly after her husband's birthday.

A celebration of the anniversary of his birth will be suffused with the prospect of her death.

She did not seek death, but as it now seems inevitable, she has sought and obtained the means with which to hasten it in order to avoid its most brutal ravages.

Brittany Maynard's story is perhaps the most emotionally compelling case one could make for legalizing assisted suicide.

As she notes, her circumstances are unique, and she is not arguing that physician-assisted suicide is right for all, or even for most.

But why, she asks, should she not have a right to choose?

This is a fraught question. It must be answered with care. But it must be answered. Continue reading

Sources

• Public Discourse
• Image: Second Thoughts