ASSISTED SUICIDE HERE? CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS TO SPONSOR BILL FOR LEGALIZATION.

Byline: Steve Geissinger Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - In a move expected to spark emotional and divisive debate, two California lawmakers plan to introduce a bill next month legalizing doctor-assisted death for terminally ill patients, officials said Monday.

The bill being drafted by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, and Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Santa Rosa, is based on a voter-approved law in Oregon, the only state in the nation allowing what has become known as doctor-assisted suicide.

Berg, chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Aging, and Levine, a panel member, plan to join Portland-based Compassion in Dying in launching a campaign designed to blunt the kind of opposition voiced Monday by religious and physician groups.

The lawmakers expect to get the majority-vote bill through the Democrat-dominated Legislature and figure Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a social moderate, will seriously consider it. Schwarzenegger aides declined comment.

``We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think we could get it passed,'' said Stuart Waldman, chief of staff for Levine, who was traveling overseas and could not be reached for comment. ``There's a lot of concern that terminally ill people are suffering needlessly.''

The lawmakers also believe that the potential departure of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who has been legally battling Oregon's one-of-a-kind law, would remove another hurdle to physician-assisted suicide - an issue the U.S. Supreme Court has left to individual states to legislate.

``We're working closely with Oregon, and we've had a couple other states interested in working with us as well, because as California goes, so does the rest of the nation,'' Berg said.

Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, passed in 1997, allows a doctor to prescribe life-ending drugs to a terminally ill patient who has been diagnosed as having no more than six months to live if the patient is a mentally competent adult who renews the request within 15 days.

Supporters of importing Oregon's law to California said polls show that public opinion has shifted heavily in their favor since the 1999 failure of a bill by former Democratic Assemblywoman Dion Aroner of Berkeley and voter rejection of a 1992 California ballot initiative.

But assisted-suicide opponents, such as the Catholic Church and the California Medical Association, said there's been no change in public attitude.

``Catholic Church teaching respects life from conception through natural death,'' said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for Cardinal Roger Mahony and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

``While we recognize that extraordinary means are not necessary to preserve life, the taking of life under other circumstances is rejected by our faith.''

Tamberg said Mahony would not comment directly on this particular proposal, unless it is considered at some point by the full California Catholic Conference.

California Medical Association spokesman Ron Lopp said his group has yet to take a position on the proposed bill but that it opposes assisted suicide in general.

However, the CMA has argued in federal court that Ashcroft's attempts to stop doctor-assisted death in Oregon could discourage physicians elsewhere from giving terminally ill patients enough pain medication.

Ashcroft's efforts, the group argued, would result in needlessly painful deaths for many patients.

The legal battle began after Ashcroft announced that physicians who prescribed lethal medication would lose their federal licenses to dispense controlled substances. In a lawsuit filed by Oregon, federal courts ruled that Ashcroft overstepped his bounds because medical practice is regulated by the states.

The decisions have been applauded by the Oregon-based advocacy group Compassion in Dying.

``We think the people of California should have the same choices that those in Oregon do,'' said Carole van Aelstyn, a spokeswoman for the California affiliate of the group. ``But I'm sure this (legislative proposal) will kick up a storm.''

Meanwhile, the primary figure of the 1990s movement to gain legalization of doctor-assisted suicide, Jack Kevorkian, 76, remains in a Michigan prison serving a 25-year sentence for his conviction on second-degree murder charges. He claims to have assisted in the suicides of more than 130 people.

Steve Geissinger, [phone]

sgeissinger(at)angnewspapers.com