Bill Makes California the Fifth US State to Allow Physician-Assisted Suicide

After the controversial bill on euthanasia came into effect, California becomes the fifth US state to allow physician-assisted suicide, The bill now lets terminally-ill patients seek doctor's help to end their lives.

Governor Jerry Brown said he consulted members of the Catholic Church, which is opposed to measure, as well as physicians, before making the decision.

California to Become Sixth American State to Approve Euthanasia
Californians who have been looking to the legislature for the option to determine the quality of their final days of life based on their own personal beliefs.

"In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death. 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,” said the 77-year-old governor.

The bill makes California the fifth US state to allow assisted suicide after Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont.

Euthanasia has long been a controversial issue in the United States. The topic was brought to the forefront in California by the case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with a brain tumor who moved from San Francisco to Oregon and took her own life last November.

Depressed 24-Year-Old Belgian Woman Granted Right To Die By Euthanasia
The 24-year-old does not have a life-threatening sickness, but she was granted euthanasia due to the depression she had dealt with for several years.

Source-AFP

Seventy-Nine-Year-Old Man With Mouth Cancer First in Colombia to be Euthanized
Ovidio Gonzalez' son, Julio Cesar, informed media outlets that his father was euthanized. Mouth cancer had disfigured Ovidio's face and caused him immense pain.

Revise Euthanasia Law for Minors in the Netherlands: Dutch Pediatricians Association
Urging the suppression of the current 12-year age limit, pediatricians have requested that terminally ill children in unbearable suffering should be given the right to die.