ARTICLES

Assembly Balks at Suicide Bill

EVEN AFTER SF MAJORITY LEADER SHELLY PULLED OFF COMMITTEE

Assembly Bill 1592, by Assemblymember Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley) would make California the second state in the United States to allow doctor assisted suicide. The so-called "Death with Dignity Act" is modeled after an Oregon law that has been in effect for 18 months. Aroner managed to squeeze the bill out of both policy and fiscal committees in the assembly, but when it came time to bring the bill before the full assembly, Aroner knew she did not have enough votes and pulled the bill off the assembly file. The doctor-assisted suicide bill will not again be eligible for consideration until the next half of the current two-year session reconvenes in January. The bill barely passed out of assembly judiciary committee earlier this month when San Francisco Assemblyman Kevin Shelley voted against the measure. He later cited the case of his mother's illness several years ago, when she asked the doctors to let her die -- she has since regained her health. Shelley says this caused him to want stronger safeguards in the bill. During the debate, opponents in wheelchairs lined the aisles of the committee room. Other critics carried picket signs warning that the poor and minorities could be victimized by the bill.

After Shelley voted no in the assembly judiciary committee, the bill was headed for defeat by a vote of 7 ayes to 8 nos until Oakland Green Party Assemblymember Audie Bock dramatically switched her vote from no to aye, thus passing the bill out of committee 8-7. Bock had said before switching her vote, "Like many people in this room, I am very conflicted about this legislation." But when the measure came before the assembly appropriations committee later in the month, Aroner had to resort to different tactics to move the bill. Since Kevin Shelley sits on the assembly appropriations committee, Aroner convinced assembly speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) to pull Shelley off of the committee in favor of liberal substitute Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara). Kevin Shelley is the majority floor leader, the number two position in the assembly Democrat caucus. Hannah-Beth Jackson is a freshman legislator. Aroner was then able to pass her bill out of the assembly appropriations by a vote of 11 ayes to 9 nos. Some political observers were speculating that if the measure passed the Assembly, it would give Governor Gray Davis a perfect chance to cement his centrist politics by vetoing the bill. While Governor Davis is a staunch supporter of abortion on demand, the pro-euthanasia lobby does not carry the same clout as Planned Parenthood in California politics. Governor Davis' involvement proved unnecessary, however, when Aroner found that numerous Latino Democrats were prepared to join with San Franciscan Kevin Shelley in rejecting the proposal on a floor vote.

Assemblyman George Runner (R-Lancaster), author of recent legislation easing barriers to pain treatment and a staunch opponent of euthanasia, said, "suicide is rarely a rational decision, most often it is associated with depression or other disorders, and suggests a condition needing medical treatment, not lethal medication." Runner continued, "Going down this slippery slope, an expectation might even arise where certain members of society, like the disabled community, will be encouraged to voluntarily end their expensive suffering. Mixing managed care with physician-assisted suicide is like mixing gasoline and fire -- it is a very dangerous combination." During one of the hearings on the bill, Dion Aroner said that she does not expect many people to take advantage of assisted suicide should it eventually become law. "It's not something most dying patients will choose." Among those in opposition to the bill are the California Catholic Conference, Catholic Charities, the California Medical Association, the California Nurses Association, the California State Hospice Association, the Scholl Institute of Bioethics, and numerous disabled-rights activists who fear the right to doctor assisted suicide would eventually become an obligation under managed care. Assemblymember Marilyn Brewer, a pro-choice Republican from Newport Beach, voted against the measure in committee and said that the patient's life should be left "in the hands of God."