NORTHRIDGE – The public debate over "death with dignity" in California began Friday with an informational hearing at California State University, Northridge.

A panel of state lawmakers heard testimony from experts and advocates on both sides of the issue during a joint hearing conducted by two Assembly policy committees.

Members of the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee joined with Judiciary Committee members to gather information on a proposed bill that would give terminally ill Californians the right to end their own lives.

If the bill by Assembly members Patty Berg, D-Eureka, and Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, becomes law, California would become the second state in the nation that gives terminally ill patients control over their own deaths. Oregon has been the only state to offer such rights since enacting the landmark Death With Dignity Act in 1997.

"As Californians approach the twilight of their lives, they deserve to have control over their health care," Levine said. "I became a public servant to defend the rights of all people to live with dignity, and I believe that means giving them a choice about how they die. If I become terminally ill, and doctors are unable to save me, I want the freedom to leave this world on my own terms."

The bill is expected to be closely modeled on the Oregon act, which has a long list of safeguards. Among them:

• Two physicians must agree the patient has less than six months to live.
  
• The patient must make three requests – two verbal, and one written.
  
• The patient is counseled about other alternatives.
  
• The patient must be shown to be mentally competent by clinical evaluation.
  
• There is a 15-day waiting period before a prescription is written.
  
• The patient must self-administer the life-ending prescription.
  

"We think this is about compassion and about choices," said Berg, who serves as the chairwoman of the Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care. "There have to be alternatives to the way some people spend their final days. Right now, many patients go without food or water for weeks to hasten their deaths. We think there needs to be an alternative to that."

The Northridge hearing was focused specifically on issues dealing with people with disabilities, and the distinctions between chronic diseases and terminal illness.

Lawmakers have scheduled a second informational hearing for Feb. 4 in San Francisco. That hearing will deal with the clinical process by which patients are evaluated for mental competency.

Berg and Levine plan to introduce their bill in mid-February.