More than 50 advocates of a state bill dubbed the "End of Life Option" assembled outside the downtown Santa Barbara offices of Assemblymember Das Williams Friday morning, demanding that Williams — as yet undeclared on the politically polarized measure — cast his ballot in the affirmative. The bill, which gives terminally ill patients who’ve been given six months or less to live the ability to end their own lives, is scheduled for a vote during this week’s special legislative session, and by any reckoning the outcome remains extremely uncertain.
Most of the activists thronging Williams’s office wore yellow campaign T-shirts bearing the words, “Compassion & Choices,” the name of the sponsoring organization mobilizing Friday’s action. Most were above the age of 60, and when asked how many were constituents of Williams's, about half raised their hands. Williams was not present at the event, but afterward, a number of the advocates reportedly met with his staff. According to Williams’s spokesperson Lourdes Jimenez, the assemblymember has expressed concerns the legislation does not adequately address the pain threshold at which patients should be able to avail themselves to the final option. She also noted that doctors had given Williams's own grandfather six months to live after a cancer diagnosis five years ago — but that he remains alive today. Williams, Lourdes explained, expressed concern family members could be unduly denied the companionship of their loved ones if the bill were passed as initially proposed. To date, however, the bill has not come before Williams for a vote.
An older man — balding, bespectacled, and slightly hunched of back — told the assembled supporters that he’d been diagnosed many years ago with multiple myeloma, a slow-moving form of cancer that’s incurable and often inflicts excruciating pain. The core issue, he said, was that of choice. His medical symptoms, he said, are currently under control, but should they flare up again, he has no confidence the arsenal of drugs used to combat pain are up to the task. “I’ve known the pain that cancer causes,” he said. “And sometimes they can’t control it.”
