Shavelson, M.D. v. California Department of Health Care Services

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

LONNY SHAVELSON, M.D., et al., Case No. 21-cv-06654-VC

Plaintiffs,

ORDER GRANTING MOTIONS TO

v. DISMISS AND GRANTING LEAVE

TO FILE AS AMICI CURIAE

ROBERT BONTA, et al., Re: Dkt. Nos. 83, 84, 91 Defendants.

The motions to dismiss are granted, and the complaint is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The motion for leave to file as amici curiae is also granted.1 As explained in a prior ruling, the plaintiffs have narrowed their challenge to California’s End of Life Option Act. Shavelson v. Bonta, 21-cv-06654, 2022 WL 2234973, at *6 (N.D. Cal. June 22, 2022). But their new theory is so narrow that it presents too hypothetical and conjectural an injury for the plaintiffs to have standing. Id. It is surely true that people with ALS like Alex Sajkovic, the named plaintiff, are facing a terrible and unpredictable disease. Many of them, and those with similar conditions, will likely lose the ability to completely self-administer aid-in-dying medications. It seems plausible that for some of them, there will be a window where they could nevertheless at least begin to administer the medications…