physician-assisted suicide

The California Medical Association has dropped its three-decades-long opposition to physician-assisted suicide. Reuters suggests that this might push along  legislation in the California legislature to make the practice legal for terminally ill patients in the Golden State.

The CMA said its change to neutral on the issue was the first by a state medical association.

But CMA’s  national parent, the American Medical Association, remains opposed to doctors participating in assisted suicide, that the practice would violate  physicians’ roles as a healer, would be difficult to control and would pose “serious societal risks.”

It’s unclear how a California law allowing physician-assisted suicide might affect legal liability and other issues  for hospitals employing physicians who help patients kill themselves.