A California State Health Care Policy Or Legislation

End of Life Option Act
Name
Institution
End of Life Option Act
In 2016, the California State enacted a health-care statute, referred to as the End of Life Option Act (California Legislative Information, 2016). According to section 443.215 of the law, the statute will be effective up to January 2026 and would be repealed as of that date unless another statute deleting or extending the law is enacted before the due date. The Statute states that:
“An individual who is an adult with the capacity to make medical decisions and with a terminal disease may make a request to receive a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug if all the following conditions are satisfied:
1. The individual’s attending physician has diagnosed the individual with a terminal disease.
2. The individual has voluntarily expressed the wish to receive a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug.
3. The individual is a resident of California.
4. The individual documents his or her request pursuant to the requirements set forth in Section 443.3.
5. The individual has the physical and mental ability to self-administer the aid-in-dying drug.”
In addition to this, the statute provides that an individual can withdraw the request for an aid-in-dying drug at any given time, and any changes to a request without the individual’s authorization, knowingly, is a felony punishable by law (California Legislative Information, 2016). Thus, a physician should not willingly alter the individual's request or withdrawal, especially if their intentions are to cause the death of the individual.
One of the strengths of this statute is that it allows patients with terminal illness to die with dignity. The act gives terminally-ill patients the right to end their own life by self-administering an aid-in-dying drug, which is supplied to them by a qualified physician. While euthanasia is a controversial topic, especially between science and religion, patients who are willing to take this option are at an advantage because they can end their suffering with the help of a medical professional. This law sets California on the front line, joining a few other States when it comes to addressing Euthanasia and as such, the law contributes to the overall approach to euthanasia in the entire country. According to Petrillo, Dzeng, and Smith (2016), California is one of the most diverse States and the reaction of people to this law will somehow give an insight on how the entire country feels about assisted suicide. The weakness of this law, however, is that it was enacted during a special session that was meant for health care issues, and this has opened grounds for litigation from opponents of the act. According to Karlamangla (2018), a judge had overturned the law based on when it was enacted, two years after its enactment, raising questions on its survival. While the law was later reinstated by the court of appeal, it was not in effect during the period it was invalidated, implying that terminally-ill patients could not access assisted suicide. Loopholes in the law mean that it will be a while before opponen...