LEGISLATIVE ADVISORY: AB 282 (Jones-Sawyer) Chapter 245, Statutes of 2018 – Aiding, Advising, or Encouraging Suicide: Exemption from Prosecution.
Operative Date of Legislation: January 1, 2019
Attention Board of Psychology (Board) stakeholders:
Assembly Bill 282 (Jones-Sawyer) was signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown on September 5, 2018, and became operative January 1, 2019. This legislation amends Section 401 of the Penal Code to make persons whose actions are performed in compliance with the End of Life Option Action immune from prosecution for deliberately aiding, advising, or encouraging suicide.
SUMMARY OF CHANGES:
This bill ensures that psychologists and physicians and surgeons who participate in and follow the requirements of the End of Life Option Act (commencing with Section 443 et. seq. of the Health and Safety Code) through their evaluation or diagnosis of a patient with a terminal illness, performance of the required mental health assessment of a terminally ill patient, or their prescribing or dispensing of an “aid-in-dying drug” to a terminally ill patient cannot be prosecuted under California law.
Note: Compliance with the requirements of the End of Life Option Act includes all mandatory reporting to the California Department of Public Health, if any apply. For more information on the End of Life Option Act and its reporting requirements, go to https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CHSI/Pages/End-of-Life-Option-Act-.aspx#
