Yesterday, Nico van Aelstyn, a principal in Beveridge & Diamond’s San Francisco office, filed a lawsuit in the San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of plaintiffs seeking to clarify the ability of mentally competent, terminally ill California patients to obtain aid in dying from their physicians if they find their dying process unbearable.  The plaintiffs include three California patients with cancer and three doctors that regularly treat the terminally ill.  The case presents both statutory construction claims and constitutional claims under the California State Constitution.

Mr. van Aelstyn, who serves as co-counsel with Kathryn Tucker of the Disability Rights Legal Center, said, “This lawsuit represents a vitally important step to ensure that a patient can direct his or her care.  Patients already have the right to make certain decisions in California that can control the timing and manner of their deaths, either by choosing certain treatment or by having it withheld or withdrawn.  The lawsuit seeks to make it clear that Californians who are terminally ill and mentally competent have another option that gives them control, avoids a perceived loss of dignity and reduces suffering they find unbearable.”

Lauren Hopkins, Drew Mayer, and Zach Norris, all associates at Beveridge & Diamond, assisted with the filing.

More information can be found in the press release and the complaint.