To Governor Newsom and CA Assemblymembers,

Expand the California End of Life Option Act to include progressive illnesses NOW!

Currently, to qualify for the California End of Life Option Act (EOLOA), one must:

o   Be 18 years or older and a resident of California

o   Have a terminal disease that cannot be cured or reversed and that is expected to result in death within six months

o   Have capacity to make medical decisions and not have impaired judgment due to a mental disorder

o   Have the physical ability to take and ingest the drug

Currently, the EOLOA requires that eligible patients who would like to take an aid-in-dying drug inform a doctor of their desire to do so twice verbally, with at least 48 hours between each request. There are no further requirements a patient must meet to receive the aid-in-dying drug: two verbal statements are enough to enact the EOLOA. 

While the EOLOA has done much to reduce suffering among folks with terminal illnesses-- 405 individuals died from ingestion of aid-in-dying drugs in 2019-- folks with progressive illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease have no way of reducing suffering at the end of their lives.

It is difficult to know the true number of individuals who suffer from progressive illnesses in the U.S. let alone California. However, Alzheimer’s disease, which is one of the most common forms of dementia, is estimated to be affecting around 5.8 million people in the U.S. currently. By 2060, “the number of Alzheimer’s disease cases is predicted to rise to an estimated 14 million people, with minority populations being affected the most” (CDC, 2022).

Though progressive illnesses such as Alzheimer’s can cause a great deal of pain and suffering among the individuals it affects, most of these illnesses do not fall under the qualifications for EOLOA because they take more than six months to lead to death.

Currently, though Alzheimer’s patients can ask in advance to not be kept alive through medical treatment once they reach a certain stage of illness, their wishes are not binding and there is no way for these patients to ensure that they can prevent suffering at the end of their lives.

EOLOA should be expanded to allow advanced directives for individuals who would like to plan ahead to utilize EOLOA in the case of progressive illnesses. Those who live with progressive illnesses deserve to be able to prevent further suffering just as much as those with terminal illnesses. If someone with a progressive illness is able to confirm to doctors twice verbally and once in an advanced directive that they would like to take an aid-in-dying drug by a certain stage of their illness, they would not only be meeting stricter requirements than the current EOLOA, but they would also be freed from suffering in their final moments.