California shortens wait for terminally ill patients to access assisted death
Since California legalized assisted death more than five years ago, potentially thousands of terminally ill patients seeking the lethal medication have died before obtaining a prescription that would have allowed them to end their lives on their own terms. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday to reduce that barrier, shortening a mandatory waiting period for the life-ending drugs during which advocates say many patients become too sick to continue the process.
