Lately, California has come up with a law that will allow terminally ill patients to use End of Life Option Act. Under the law that went into effect on Thursday, doctors would be able to prescribe pills that will fasten deaths of terminally ill patients. But opponents of the law are making all possible efforts to overturn the law.

The Life Legal Defense Foundation, American Academy of Medical Ethics and many other physicians have filed a case in Riverside County Superior Court. They have alleged that the new act is unconstitutional.

As per the case, the new law is civil rights violation. California has joined five other states in the US by adopting the law where the practice is legal. The End of Life Option Act can be exercised by the one who has less than six months to live. He can have medicines from their doctors that would provide him with an early death.

Stephen G. Larson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that it is a crime in California to help or encourage another person to commit suicide. But under the law, doctors can do so for the terminally ill patients. California law says that when someone is in danger then they should receive immediate help. But the ones under the law do not require to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Larson said, “This is very arbitrary, very capricious, very ambiguous — really no accountability. This is not a good law”.

“The California Medical Association was neutral on the measure, which is modeled on a law that has been in place in Oregon since 1997. But although no doctor or hospital will be required to assist in anyone’s death, many people in the medical profession remain opposed. So, too, do some people based on their religious beliefs, and some disability rights activists, who fear terminally ill people will feel pressured to end their lives for financial or other reasons,” according to a news report published by SacBee News.

California Department of Public Health must issue annual reports detailing the number of people for whom lethal drugs have been prescribed, the number of doctors who issue the prescriptions, the number of people who die on their own terms, and details about them, including their age, race, underlying illnesses and educational level. Too many people have died excruciating deaths for lack of humane alternatives. Some have decided to leave their homes and travel to Oregon to die.

According to a story published on the topic by LA Times, “The Life Legal Defense Foundation, American Academy of Medical Ethics and several physicians have filed a lawsuit in Riverside County Superior Court claiming that the state’s new aid-in-dying law is unconstitutional. The End of Life Option Act allows patients with less than six months to live to obtain medicines from their doctor that would kill them. On Thursday, California became one of five states in the U.S. where the practice is legal.”

Patients seeking lethal medications under the law must have two physicians determine that they are mentally competent and terminally ill. If a physician has questions about a patient’s mental state, the patient must be referred to a psychiatrist for an evaluation. Data from Oregon, the first state where aid in dying was legalized, show that 5% of patients who have died there using lethal medications had been referred for psychiatric evaluation.

A report published in NY Times revealed, “Oregon was the first state to pass an assisted suicide law, and was followed by Washington and Vermont. Under a Montana court ruling, doctors cannot be prosecuted for helping terminally ill patients die, as long as the patient makes a written request. With the California law, 16 percent of the country’s population has a legal option for terminally ill patients to determine the moment of their death, up from 4 percent.”

The California legislation is strict, intended to ensure that patients have thought through the decision and are making it voluntarily. Patients must make multiple requests for the medication and have a prognosis of less than six months to live. Many hospitals have not yet released policies for dealing with the law. And no doctor, health system or pharmacy will be required to comply with a patient’s request.