Earlier this year, SN&R editor and writer Melinda Welsh wrote about the work of “end of life” advocates fighting for the legal right to die with dignity in the face of terminal disease , who had shared her story and fight in our January 22 feature “How to Die in California“.
On Tuesday, August 11 one of those activists, the San Mateo resident Jennifer Glass (pictured), died from complications from lung cancer.
Glass, who worked with the Compassion & Choices California Campaign, appeared at a January 21 news conference in Sacramento to introduce the End of Life Option Act (SB 128) aimed to authorize medical aid for terminally ill adults in California.
The “Death with Dignity” bill, authored by senators Lois Wolk (D-Davis) and Bill Monning (D-Monterey), failed to gain the needed support amid concerns its passing would lead doctors to coerce patients into suicide and/or recklessly administer assisted suicide drugs.
Like other high profile advocates such as Brittany Maynard who moved from the East Bay to Oregon so that she could legally end her fight with cancer, Glass wanted to push California into legal action.
“No one was a stronger supporter of the End of Life Option Act than Jennifer Glass,” said Compassion & Choices California Campaign Director Toni Broaddus. in a press release. “It is a crying shame the Assembly Health Committee failed her by holding up the bill. But we can honor her memory by continuing to fight to authorize medical aid in dying for other terminally ill Californians who urgently need this end-of-life need option to relieve unbearable suffering.”
Learn mnore about Glass’s life and the campaign’s ongoing legislative efforts here.
