The juridical battle about the legality of California’s End-of-Life Option Act has for the time being turned into the right direction, when the Fourth District Court of Appeal overturned the district court decision nullifying the End of Life Option Act, ruling the physician plaintiffs who had brought the suit forward had no standing to do so.
The ruling of November 27 is consistent with past court rulings on the issue. This is what has been said all along: if doctors don’t want to prescribe medications under the Act, they don’t have to participate. The End of Life Option Act does not put them, or anyone else, at any risk of harm.
The fight for death with dignity in California is not over. The appellate court left a small opening for the opponents by sending the issue back to the lower court.