Daughters: Mother died “excruciating” death she didn’t want
The Mercury News
In what may be the first-of-its-kind lawsuit related to California’s End of Life Option Act, the family of a San Francisco terminally ill cancer patient is suing the UC San Francisco Medical Center alleging that her physician and the system misrepresented that they would help the dying woman use California’s right-to-die law when her time came.
Instead, according to the July 7 civil lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Judy Dale’s wish for a peaceful death was denied to her by the defendants’ “conscious choice to suppress and conceal” their decision that they would not participate in the law, despite Dale’s repeated indications to doctors and social workers that she intended to use its provisions. The suit also names the university’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF Health, a UCSF oncologist and the UC Board of Regents. . . [Full text]