End of Life Options Act
During a special session on health provision in 2015, the legislature in California passed bill the California End of Life Option Act. The bill was also termed as death with dignity bill and was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. The aim of the bill was to allow ill patients to request and access aid in dying, though in clearly defined situations by the State Government. Death with dignity became one of the common and widely accepted phrases in California and United States at large by allowing the prescribed medication to patients to hasten their deaths (Vanderpool, 2015).
However, the issue is whether the prescribed drugs to hasten death were to reduce suffering to the patients or to allow compensation for their families, as a result of their deaths. Many scholars thought that suicidal cases might arise for the victims to reap life insurance benefits for their loved ones.The End of Life Options Act, therefore, formulated several guidelines for the application of the Act, and the manner in which the prescribed drugs should be disbursed to the patients. This was mainly to eliminate suicidal cases taking advantage of the development of the health care system. The bill was amended and provided that insurance companies will not be permitted to include denial of the application of the treatment and required procedures, and the availability of funds to cater for assisted suicide (Stefan, 2016). The insurance companies could be permitted to inform the patient of the costs of the lethal prescription that would also cover for the attending physician and the patients’ designees.
The bill will punish and penalize any individual who is thought to exert undue influence on the patients to undertake the lethal prescription. This is regarding individuals in the society and family violence who are vulnerable to abuse by other members and can be in a position to force the lethal prescription to the vulnerable patients. Ball (2012) explains that the bill requires that the physicians in the application of the lethal prescription to discuss the matter with the patients, and in the absence of any other party in the discussion for the application of the bill. However, undue influence from other parties has very narrow legal meaning because it does not include suggesting, encouraging and advising of the patients to administer the doctor-prescribed suicide. The bill provides that the doctor and the patient can arrange the administration of the lethal drug without the consent of the family members (Ball, 2012). In essence, this provides a risk for individuals with the intention of suicide, which would compromise the purpose of the Act.
Seconal Sodium (secobarbital) is a barbiturate drug that is used in short-terms to treat insomnia patients, or also used as a sedative drug before surgery. According to In Dahlin (2015), the common effects of the drug in small amounts include tiredness, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, and sleepiness. However, the drug in …
