An assisted suicide law is set to take effect June 9 in California, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Here are six things to know about the law.
1. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the measure last year, but it wasn't until March 10 this year, when lawmakers adjourned a special session, that a specific start date was attached to it. The bill did not win needed support during the regular session, so supporters introduced it in special session, which allowed it to bypass committees where opposition was strong, according to the report.
2. Under the law, physicians in California may legally prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill people who want to hasten their deaths, the report states.
3. The California Medical Association has come out with guidelines that lay out requirements for terminally ill patients diagnosed with less than six months to live, the report notes. Among them are that the patients must make two verbal requests at least 15 days apart and one written request that is signed, dated and witnessed by two adults, according to the report.
4. California Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said the law "ensures Californians have access to humane and compassionate options to limit suffering at the end of life," according to the report.
5. Tim Rosales of Californians Against Assisted Suicide said the group "remains strongly critical of this new law, and its lack of medical oversight and actual patient safeguards," according to the Los Angeles Times. He added, "We will continue working with our partners, including doctors, patients and disability rights organizations, to educate those impacted and vulnerable, as well as working to limit the law's harms and prevent any expansion."
6. With this law, California joins Vermont, Oregon, Washington and Montana in allowing physicians to prescribe lethal doses to the terminally ill.
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