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State Bill Would Have Established Toll-Free Line For Aid-In-Dying Law

Eurika Strotto, left, and Dr. Sunita Shailam discuss how California's aid-in-dying law will work, Oct. 26, 2015.
Katie Schoolov
Eurika Strotto, left, and Dr. Sunita Shailam discuss how California's aid-in-dying law will work, Oct. 26, 2015.

Californians who have questions about the state’s End of Life Option Act may not know where to go to get answers.

A bill in the state Senate that would have offered a solution was killed in May.

SB 1002, written by Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel), would have created a toll-free phone line for people who want information about the aid-in-dying law.

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Opponents said the bill would have put the state in the position of promoting the law.

San Diego family medicine physician Sunita Shailam disagrees. She thinks there should be one central place where people can go to get the facts.

“Think of how much planning and preparation goes into a pregnancy, and the beginning of life," she said. "And this is really minuscule to support the end of life.”

California’s law allows people who’ve been given less than six months to live to get a lethal dose of drugs from a doctor.

California is one of four states that have a so-called “death with dignity” law on the books. The state of Colorado will put such a measure on its November ballot.

Corrected: April 26, 2024 at 12:57 AM PDT
Clarification: An earlier version of this story did not say that SB 1002 was killed in the Senate Appropriations Committee in May.