March 26, 2024

California grants assisted suicide to disabled, but not to prisoners

California wants to prohibit prisoners from receiving “aid in dying”.

Following the legalisation of assisted suicide in California, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has proposed regulations that will prohibit prisoners from receiving “aid in dying”.

The regulations, issued for public comment late last week, are intended to prevent prisoners from “accessing aid-in-dying drugs under the End of Life Option Act”. They also prohibit “CDCR employees, independent contractors and other persons and entities from participating in activities under the End of Life Option Act.”

Prisoners are to be provided with “healthcare appropriate and necessary to their situation”, and the regulations are said to “ensure the health, safety and security of inmates”.

The End of Life Option Act states that Californian residents with a terminal illness and less than six months to live are eligible to receive assistance in dying.

Recently an artist suffering from Lou-Gehrig’s disease held a “Right to Die” party in Ojai, CA, before becoming one of the first Californians to end their life under the new laws. Forty-one- year old Betsy Davis referred to her suicide as “rebirth”, and her sister Kelly said of her pre-death celebration that she had “turned her departure into a work of art”. 

California grants assisted suicide to disabled, but not to prisoners
Xavier Symons
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Creative commons
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assisted suicide
california
prisoner euthanasia
prisons