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By Sandy Kleffman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
A new Field Poll reveals strong support for doctor-assisted suicide at a time when advocates plan a renewed push to legalize the practice in California.
But opponents note that endorsing the concept and backing a specific proposal do not always go hand in hand.
Seventy percent of Californians believe terminally ill patients should have the right to get life-ending medications, the nonpartisan survey found.
Opinions on the topic have changed little throughout the years. In eight separate surveys since 1979, the Field Poll found support for doctor-assisted suicide ranging between 64 percent and 75 percent.
Many Californians go one step further and say they would like to have the option of ending their own lives.
Sixty-two percent said if they were terminally ill and expected to die within six months, they would want their doctor to be able to assist them in dying, if they requested it.
"Californians, generally speaking, are a little more of the opinion that we should be leaving these kind of judgments up to the individuals," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.
"The environment in California would appear to be ripe for a law like this."
Yet proponents have had difficulty getting such a measure enacted.
California voters rejected a physician-assisted suicide initiative in 1992, although polls initially showed strong support, said Tim Rosales of Californians Against Assisted Suicide.
Last year, a bill by Assembly Democrats Patty Berg of Santa Rosa and Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys passed two committees before they withdrew it for lack of support.
The two lawmakers announced in January they will give it another try after their supporters were energized by a Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of Oregon's assisted-suicide law.
"Even though the anti-choice groups have been out there trying to scare people about our bill, support remains very steady," Berg said Tuesday. "It's been steady for decades. Now, it's time for the Legislature to catch up with the voters and pass this bill."
A new version of the measure, AB 651, awaits its first hearing in the Senate Judiciary committee.
It would allow terminally ill Californians who are declared mentally competent to request a lethal prescription, which they would self-administer. First, they would have to be evaluated by two doctors and undergo a 15-day waiting period.
When asked about the bill, 57 percent of Californians supported it and 34 percent were opposed, the Field pollsters found.
Democrats were most likely to support the measure, at 77 percent, while Latinos narrowly opposed it, and born-again Christians and registered Republicans were divided.
Even if the bill passes the Legislature, its fate remains uncertain. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Roman Catholic, said in January that his preference would be for California voters, not lawmakers, to decide.
"I would never want to force my opinion on something like that on everyone in California," the governor said.
The measure has drawn opposition from the California Medical Association, disability rights groups and the Catholic church. Many disabled advocates worry that people will be coerced into ending their lives or feel obligated to do so to spare relatives from suffering and expenses.
Antioch resident Elizabeth Peek refused when her terminally ill husband, who had Lou Gehrig's disease, asked her to help end his life. Peek, the hospice program coordinator for Sutter VNA & Hospice, told him it was against her beliefs.
Sutter VNA opposes physician-assisted suicide. It notes that while such requests are often common during the early stages of a terminal illness, requests decrease when people receive good pain management and emotional support.
Yet some pain is so excruciating it can be difficult if not impossible to relieve, counters Carole van Aelstyn, a member of Compassion and Choices in Northern California and a hospice nurse for 10 years. She calls "aid-in-dying" measures "a civil rights' issue."
Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion and Choices, said she believes now may be the time to get a measure passed.
"Right-to-life forces and conservative religious voices have had a lot of political power, way out of proportion to their actual numbers."
Times Sacramento bureau reporter Kate Folmar contributed to this report.
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