Late on Wednesday, June 25, Assemblywoman Patty Berg (D-Eureka), the author of AB 2747 , End of Life Care, was forced to take the amendments which removed the language creating a platform for the legalization of assisted suicide. She accepted the amendments—which had been requested since the introduction of the bill in February—in order to secure the votes needed for her bill to pass the Senate Health Committee. On the following morning, the amended version cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee—only after the author accepted a number of other suggested technical amendments. The Judiciary Committee chair, Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), who may have been opposed to the bill in its original form, was the deciding vote which she cast with the caveat that "a lot of work still needs to be done on this bill."

The author's capitulation occurred because of the outstanding work of the lobbyists and physicians of the Northern California Oncologists' Association (ANCO), the representatives from the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)—as well as the advocacy of the many dedicated members of Californians Against Assisted Suicide , and the emails sent to Senators by the subscribers of the Catholic Legislative Network . If you participated in this effort—a heartfelt thanks to you!

The amendments in the revised bill included:

• Expansion and clarification of the definition of "healthcare provider"
• Removal of the definition of palliative sedation
• Removal of the definition of Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED)
• Removal of the "one year or less to live" trigger for discussion of end-of-life "care" options
• Removal of palliative sedation and VSED from the menu of end-of-life "care" options
• Recasting of the section requiring the transfer of a patient requesting a treatment his/her healthcare provider declined to offer—to allowing a transfer only when the healthcare provider did not comply with the patient's request for information on end-of-life care options.

This "event" was an important win for us. The amendments the author accepted now make the bill a hospice/information bill only—not a stealth bill setting up a mechanism for hastened death. We remain committed to quality end-of-life care including ensuring that patients are aware of the benefits of hospice and the availability of adequate palliative care and pain medication. We will continue to work with others to secure that reality.