Thursday, November 25, 2004 -
Andrew Bird
The Times-Standard
SACRAMENTO -- For Patty Berg, the issue of physician-assisted dying has a connubial connection.
Humboldt's own assemblywoman said she will partner with fellow Democratic Assemblyman Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys to sponsor a bill that would legalize physician-assisted death in California.
The bill, which has not yet been drafted, Berg said Wednesday, will be modeled after a similar bill the Legislature rejected in 1999, which was modeled on Oregon's voter-approved physician aid-in-dying law of 1997.
Under Oregon's law, the only one of its kind in the nation, a doctor can prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients who have been diagnosed with fewer than six months to live. The patient must be deemed mentally competent and be able to renew the request within 15 days.
"I feel so strongly about this," Berg said in an interview Wednesday.
Berg, a breast cancer survivor, lost her husband, Dr. Patrick Murphy, 17 years ago to an illness.
Murphy, an internist and psychiatrist, felt very strongly about giving terminally ill patients the right to die if they were capable of making the choice for themselves, Berg said.
It didn't come to this when Murphy died, but Berg said she believes her husband would not have wanted her to let him suffer for a prolonged period.
"It's about helping people achieve an end to their life with dignity," Berg said of the bill.
Berg, who chairs the Assembly's committee on aging, worked in public service for 25 years in Humboldt County, including a stint with Planned Parenthood.
"I feel very strongly about people having choices," Berg said.
"The patient is always in control here," Berg said of the legislation she plans to co-sponsor.
Berg said she knows there will be significant opposition to the bill.
The Catholic Church will probably be the bill's top adversary.
Daniel F. Walsh, bishop of the Santa Rosa Diocese, which includes Humboldt County, did not return a call to the Times-Standard on Wednesday.
But Tod Tamber, a spokesman for Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney, a former Northern California bishop, told Alameda Newspaper Group Sacramento Bureau Chief Steve Geissinger that any such bill runs counter to the church's beliefs.
"Catholic Church teaching respects life from conception through natural death," Tamberg told Geissinger. "While we recognize that extraordinary means are not necessary to preserve life, the taking of life under other circumstances is rejected by our faith."
Peter Warren, a spokesman for the California Medical Association, said the CMA opposes physician assisted suicide.
"These are some of the most intimate and personal discussions families can have," Warren said Wednesday.
However, the CMA did argue in federal court two years ago against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's attempt to bar the practice in Oregon.
The reason, Warren said, is that politics should not mix with the doctor-patient relationship, especially when it could hinder the doctor's ability to administer pain-killing medication.
"It's a no-win situation for the doctor and the patient," Warren said. "When you're dealing with a painful and terminal disease the line between life and death is not a straight line."
Federal courts eventually ruled in favor of the state of Oregon.
Berg said she believes a majority of Californians now support physician-assisted dying because the Oregon law has been successful.
Fewer than 200 terminally ill patients have chosen physician-assisted death in Oregon since the law went into effect in 1998.
However, she is prepared for a fight.
"I think it's going to be quite controversial," Berg said. "I think there will be Democrats who oppose the bill and there will be Republicans who support it."
Berg and Levine plan to hold two public hearings: January in Los Angeles and February in San Francisco.
If the bill survives the Legislature, it will require the signature of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"I have no idea," Berg said, when asked if she knows where the governor stands on the issue. "He is also a Roman Catholic like I am."
Schwarzenegger's press people could not be reached Wednesday.