California Right to Die Law: Who Qualifies and How to Request It

California’s right-to-die law, formally the End of Life Option Act, allows a terminally ill adult who is a California resident to request a prescription for medication they can take themselves to end their life.¹ The Act took effect on June 9, 2016, and was amended on January 1, 2022 to shorten the waiting period and remove some earlier procedural hurdles.² It is not euthanasia. No one else can give you the medication; you must take it yourself, and you can stop the process at any point.

Who Qualifies

You must meet all of these requirements:³

Be 18 or older.
Be a California resident. Proof can include a California driver’s license, voter registration, property ownership or lease, or a California tax return.
Have a terminal disease diagnosed by your attending physician. “Terminal disease” means an incurable and irreversible disease that, in reasonable medical judgment, will result in death within six months.⁴
Have the capacity to make your own medical decisions. If either the attending or consulting physician suspects a mental disorder is impairing your judgment, you must be referred to a mental health specialist, and no prescription can issue until that specialist confirms your capacity.⁵
Be physically and mentally able to take the medication yourself.
Make the request yourself. No one can request on your behalf through a power of attorney, advance directive, conservator, or any other representative.

Age or disability alone cannot disqualify you, and neither can qualify you on its own.³

The Steps to Request the Medication

The process is designed to confirm that your decision is informed and freely made.

First oral request. You ask your attending physician directly for aid-in-dying medication. The physician documents it in your medical record.
Second oral request. At least 48 hours later, you ask the same physician again.⁶
Written request. You sign and date a written request in front of two adult witnesses, who attest you appear to be of sound mind and not under duress. Neither witness can be your attending physician, consulting physician, or mental health specialist, and only one can be a relative or someone entitled to a share of your estate.⁶
Consulting physician review. A second physician independently confirms your diagnosis, prognosis, and mental capacity.⁵
Informed consent discussion. Your attending physician must discuss your diagnosis, the risks of the medication, the probable result of taking it, and feasible alternatives including hospice care, palliative care, and pain management.

What Changed in 2022

Before SB 380 took effect on January 1, 2022, the two oral requests had to be 15 days apart, and patients had to sign a separate “final attestation” immediately before taking the medication. The waiting period is now 48 hours, and the final attestation is gone entirely.² The change responded to reports that many terminally ill patients were dying inside the old 15-day window before they could finish the process.

You Can Stop at Any Time

You can withdraw your request at any point, for any reason. Getting the prescription does not obligate you to fill or take it. In 2023, 1,281 Californians received prescriptions under the Act and 884 took the medication, meaning roughly 31 percent of those who obtained a prescription did not use it.¹ For some patients, having the option itself is the point.

How Your Death Is Recorded and What It Means for Insurance

A death under the End of Life Option Act is not legally classified as suicide. The California Department of Public Health instructs death certificate certifiers to list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death, without referencing the Act.⁷ A death certificate will read no differently than one for someone who died of the same illness without using the Act.

Your decision to use the Act also cannot be used to deny or alter your life insurance, health insurance, or annuity contracts, and it does not affect your will or other estate documents. The protections exist so that the financial consequences families worry about most are off the table.

If Your Doctor or Hospital Won’t Participate

Participation is voluntary for every provider. No physician, pharmacist, or healthcare system is required to take part. Catholic-affiliated hospitals and some other faith-based systems in California have publicly declined to participate, and individual doctors within participating systems can also decline based on personal beliefs.³

A declining physician is not required to refer you to one who will participate. The one thing that helps if you switch: an oral request already documented in your medical record cannot be disregarded just because the earlier physician chose not to participate.⁶ A new attending physician can pick up where the record left off rather than starting the request sequence over.

Unused Medication After Death

If any aid-in-dying medication is left over, whoever has custody of it must deliver it to the nearest facility that properly disposes of controlled substances, use a DEA-approved take-back program, or follow California State Board of Pharmacy disposal guidelines.⁸ This is not optional. The DEA maintains a searchable directory of year-round disposal locations.⁹

The Law Expires in 2031 Unless Renewed

The End of Life Option Act is currently set to sunset on January 1, 2031 unless the legislature renews it. Anyone making longer-term plans should expect the statute to remain in force until then, with the possibility of extension or further amendment before that date.

1
California Department of Public Health. California End of Life Option Act 2023 Data Report
2
California Legislative Information. SB 380 End of Life Option Act
3
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 443.2
4
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 443.1
5
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 443.5
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 443.3
7
California Department of Public Health. Reporting Causes of Death for End of Life Option Act
8
California Physician Assistant Board. California End of Life Option Act
9
Diversion Control Division. Drug Disposal Information