Judge Overturns California’s Physician-Assisted Suicide Law

A California judge overturned the state’s physician aid-in-dying law Tuesday, giving the state’s attorney general five days to file an appeal to keep the law in force.

The law, enacted in 2015, allows terminally ill patients to request doctors to prescribe lethal medications. California was the fifth state to permit the practice. Today, six other states and Washington, D.C. permit physician-assisted suicide.

In overturning the law, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolia said that the California State Assembly had violated the state constitution in passing the End of Life Option Act during a special session called to deal with unrelated health care issues.

"We strongly disagree with this ruling and the state is seeking expedited review in the Court of Appeal," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times.

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