Health & Saf. Code, § 443.3 · Part 1.85. End of Life Option Act
Health & Saf. Code, § 443.3
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) An individual seeking to obtain a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug pursuant to this part shall submit two oral requests, a minimum of 48 hours apart, and a written request to their attending physician. An attending physician shall directly, and not through a designee, receive a request required pursuant to this section and shall ensure the date of a request is documented in an individual’s medical record. An oral request documented in an individual’s medical record shall not be disregarded by an attending physician solely because it was received by a prior attending physician or an attending physician who chose not to participate.
(b) A valid written request for an aid-in-dying drug under subdivision (a) shall meet all of the following conditions:
(1) The request shall be in the form described in Section 443.11.
(2) The request shall be signed and dated, in the presence of two witnesses, by the individual seeking the aid-in-dying drug.
(3) The request shall be witnessed by at least two other adult persons who, in the presence of the individual, shall attest that to the best of their knowledge and belief the individual is all of the following:
(A) An individual who is personally known to them or has provided proof of identity.
(B) An individual who voluntarily signed this request in their presence.
(C) An individual whom they believe to be of sound mind and not under duress, fraud, or undue influence.
(D) Not an individual for whom either of them is the attending physician, consulting physician, or mental health specialist.
(c) Only one of the two witnesses at the time the written request is signed may:
(1) Be related to the qualified individual by blood, marriage, registered domestic partnership, or adoption or be entitled to a portion of the individual’s estate upon death.
(2) Own, operate, or be employed at a health care entity where the individual is receiving medical treatment or resides.
(d) The attending physician, consulting physician, or mental health specialist of the individual shall not be one of the witnesses required pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b).
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 542, Sec. 2. (SB 380) Effective January 1, 2022.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=443.3.
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- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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Health and Safety Code
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