CA Assisted Suicide Struck Down

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia has overturned California's law legalizing assisted suicide and ruled it was illegally passed during a special session devoted to other topics. Judge Ottolia indicated the End of Life Option Act was improperly passed during a special session that was supposed to address Medicaid funding shortfalls, services for the disabled and in-home health support services. The judge ruled that the state legislature should not have approved the assisted suicide law because the subject of the law fell outside the grounds of the special session. However, Judge Ottolia is holding his judgement for five days which allows the state to file an emergency appeal, something California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who says he strongly disagrees with the ruling, says he plans to do.