BBS Files Amicus Brief in Support of Medical Aid in Dying Legislation

On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Darin Sands and Taylor Jaszewski submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts in support of California’s End of Life Option Act (EOLOA), which allows for medical aid in dying for terminal patients. Gov. Roberts was one of the leading proponents of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation medical aid-in-dying law, the Death With Dignity Act, and has been a prominent advocate for medical aid in dying in the years since.

The underlying lawsuit currently pending before the Ninth Circuit, United Spinal Association v. State of California, involves a facial challenge to California’s medical aid in dying law. The trial court dismissed the Complaint, finding that the Plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the law and that they failed to state a claim. Plaintiffs appealed that decision, bringing the case to the Ninth Circuit.

As Gov. Roberts argues in the amicus brief filed yesterday supporting affirming the trial court’s decision, the EOLOA is a voluntary option for California terminal patients and comes with numerous effective safeguards. More, Oregon’s twenty-seven-year experience with the Death With Dignity Act has shown that fears of a ‘slippery slope’ were unfounded as no instances of abuse of the medical aid-in-dying law have ever been documented. Instead, the law has stuck to its core values in offering terminal patients an option to face death on their own terms.

A full copy of Gov. Roberts’ amicus brief can be found here.