A California woman wants to die in her own terms, but to do that, she has to take the matter to court.
Christie White has announced in a press conference on Wednesday, February 12, that she's suing the state so it can grant her the right to die.
White has been suffering from two types of cancer, lymphoma and leukemia, for around 7 years now. She has also gone many treatments like chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant and is now in remission. However, as she stated in her lawsuit, she has seen enough suffering from other patients and friends because of the disease, and she doesn't want the same experience.
She is filing it along with other respondents including two doctors who are also diagnosed with cancer. Dr. Robert Liner, for example, has been diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. Like White, he is currently in remission.
The state of California is one of the many states that penalize assisted suicide. According to a relevant statute under the state's penal code, which has been around since 1874, anyone who tries to assist a person in suicide in whatever capacity including advising or encouraging will be charged with felony.
If she therefore wins the case, that may alter such provisions.
During the press conference, Liner mentioned the case of Britanny Maynard, who has become the face of assisted death ever since she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Maynard used to live in San Francisco with her husband, Dan Diaz. The severity of her illness helped her decide to seek assisted death. But since the state doesn't allow it, she moved to Oregon. She died on November 1, 2014, after she took the toxic pill provided by a doctor authorized to assist dying patients in their wish. Aside from Oregon, assisted suicide is legal in Vermont and Washington. There are judicial rulings, meanwhile, in New Mexico and Montana.