California lawmakers to pursue right-to-die legislation

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California lawmakers are pursuing legislation to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives after the highly publicized case of Brittany Maynard.

Maynard was a 29-year-old San Francisco Bay Area woman who had terminal brain cancer and moved to Oregon to end her life. She argued in online videos that she should have had the right to die in California.

Oregon became the first U.S. state to allow doctors to prescribe life-ending medication in 1994. Aid in dying is legal in four other states.

Maynard’s family will join three Democratic lawmakers Wednesday to propose similar legislation.

The proposal would require patients to take the fatal medication themselves. Previous efforts have failed amid opposition from religious and medical groups.

California’s bill will be the third right-to-die proposal since Maynard’s story broke.