Assemblypersons Patti Berg and Lloyd Levine’s attempt to institute backdoor assisted suicide via “palliative sedation” just hit a big bump in the road: To get it out of a California Senate committee–they had to consent to their pet bill being gutted. From the California Catholic Conference press release:

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 [self starvation/dehydration]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 is a great win and congratulations are owed to the disability rights movement, the Northern California Oncologists Association, the California Catholic Conference, and all associated with Californians Against Assisted Suicide, among others.

However: If it passes the Senate the bill goes into a committee to have the original version that passed the Assembly and this innocuous version reconciled. Look for the bad guys to attempt a smoke-filled–room by reinstating most of the original bill behind closed doors.