On Friday August 27, the Californian ALS patient Sandy Morris, joined by other patients and physicians, filed a lawsuit in federal court. The plaintiffs are asserting discrimination under the state’s law. Because they are disabled, they’re denied access to the dignified death available to all other Californians.
California’s End of Life Option Act requires that people take their own lethal medications, without assistance — but the cruel reality for Sandy and others dying of neuromuscular disease is that they can’t. They need help.
“It is so incredibly cruel that nobody can help me take these medications,” said Morris to Eastbaytimes, confined to her bed in Sierraville, north of Lake Tahoe. “I am terrified to think that if I wait too long — if I wake up tomorrow or the next day and can’t move my thumbs or swallow — that suddenly this is no longer an option for me.”
Read the complaint below:
California
United States of America