LOS ANGELES _ A judge overturned California's physician-assisted suicide law on Tuesday, giving the state attorney general five days to file an appeal to keep the law in place.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolia ruled that the California Legislature violated the law by passing the End of Life Option Act during a special session dedicated to health care issues, according to the plaintiffs in the case as well as advocates for the law.
"We're very happy with the decision today," said Alexandra Snyder, head of the Life Legal Defense Foundation, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit. "We will now wait and see what the attorney general does."
The suit was originally filed on the day the law took effect, and California became the fifth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Now, nearly 1 in 5 Americans live in a state where physician-assisted suicide is legal, according to advocacy group Compassion and Choices.
The law allows patients with less than six months to live to request end-of-life drugs from their doctors. In the first six months in California after the law took effect in June 2016, more than 100 people made use of it to end their lives.
John C. Kappos, an attorney representing Compassion and Choices, which advocated for the law, said he believes the passage of the law was constitutional because aid in dying is a health care issue.
"Ultimately, we are confident an appeals court will rule the Legislature duly passed the End of Life Option Act and reinstate this perfectly valid law, which the strong majority of Californians support," he said in a statement.
He cited a 2015 survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley that found that 76 percent of Californians supported allowing terminally ill patients to take their own lives.
Ottolia read his ruling in court Tuesday morning and will not release the written document for five days, said David Gutknecht, deputy executive officer of administration for Riverside County Superior Court. Court logs confirm that the judge granted a motion Tuesday morning.
