Free Republic

Californians who are terminally ill will not be able to access drugs with the potential to save or prolong their lives as a result of Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto of the Right to Try Act on Sunday. AB 159, the California Right to Try Act, passed the state assembly and senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. “It’s disappointing that Governor Brown couldn’t see the need to allow Californians the right to fight to save their own lives,” said Assemblyman Ian Calderon (D., Whittier), who sponsored the legislation. “Both Democrats and Republicans wanted this for our California’s terminally ill.” In his veto...

Terminally ill patients have been issued with special cards telling doctors not to place them on a 'care pathway' that would hasten the end of their lives. It comes after doctors warned that hospitals may be routinely withholding food and drink from very ill patients so they die quicker to cut costs and save on bed spaces. In response the anti-euthanasia charity Alert is distributing cards to patients to prevent this happening. The cards simply read: 'Please do not give me the Liverpool Care Pathway treatment without my informed consent or that of a relative.'