California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Initiative Drive OKd on Right-to-Die Issue

An initiative that would allow terminally ill people to authorize physicians to assist in their death has received approval to be circulated. Petitions must be signed by 384,974 voters by March 5 for the measure to qualify for the ballot. The sponsors are Robert L. Risley of Pasadena and Allan K. Brinley of Whittier. The measure, approved for circulation by Secretary of State March Fong Eu, would let people whose illnesses have been diagnosed as terminal give written instructions for their death in a “painless, human and dignified manner.” It also would give criminal and civil immunity to physicians, other health professionals and medical facilities who participate in a patient’s willing death.