Christy O’Donnell Wants Assisted Suicide Via Euthanasia, Will California Law Allow The Right To Die?

Christy O’Donnell believes she should have the right to die via euthanasia, but currently, California law does not support assisted suicide. Legislation called the “End of Life Option Act,” or Senate Bill 128, would give O’Donnell the right to die, but the bill is currently idling in the California senate.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Christy O’Donnell suffers from stage IV lung cancer and, despite intense rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer has moved to her brain, spine, ribs, and liver. Doctors have given Christy an estimated six months to live, and now she is afraid of what the end of her life will be in a hospital.

“I spend an inordinate amount of time being afraid of the pain that I’m going to endure,” O’Donnell said.

“All of that time that my mind spends thinking about that, I am not living. If I get to a hospital, they’ll very painfully put a tube in. They’ll drain the fluid from my lung, only to patch me up, send me home and wait until the next time my lung fills up with fluid. And then I’ll continue to repeat the process of drowning painfully until I die.”

The reason Christy O’Donnell is making her belief public is because she is hoping to raise support for California’s “End of Life Option Act.” Only four states, including Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont currently have assisted suicide laws, and SB128 gives patients the option to the time and manner of their death.

The law is modeled after the Oregon version, but it also includes stipulations that try to ensure that terminal patients are not being coerced by family or economic pressures. According to the Desert Sun, these conditions must be met over the course of at least 15 days prior to administering euthanasia.

• A six-month terminal illness diagnosis from two physicians.
• A mental competency clearance from two physicians.
• The ability to self-administer medication.

Even though Christy O’Donnell is trying to bring attention to SB128, a coalition called Californians Against Assisted Suicide has expressed its opposition for quite a while.

“We will advocate quite aggressively against this legislation… Once suicide becomes an option, it is just another form of treatment and the cheapest option,” said Tim Rosales, spokesman for the group, according to Mercury News.

According to CBS, Molly Weedn, a spokeswoman for the California Medical Association, says her group will maintain its “opposition to physician assisted suicide because it is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as a healer.”

The arguments of Christy O’Donnell also face an uphill battle, because attempts to pass California euthanasia laws has failed in 2005 and 2006 over objections from religious and medical groups.

What do you think about assisted suicide and the right to die?

[Image via People]