Funeral services were pending on Monday for Christy O’Donnell, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who suffered from lung cancer and was a key proponent of a state law allowing medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.
O’Donnell, 47, died Saturday, according to an announcement posted by her brother on her Facebook page.
“On February 6, my little sister Christy passed away and she asked me to post this as her final message on Facebook, as she wanted everyone to know how loved, supported and lucky she has been in her lifetime to have you all in her life,” Jay Watts wrote. “I and our family want to extend a special thanks to the health care professionals at http://www.bestchoicehospicecare.com/ who were absolutely wonderful in doing what they could to help make Christy’s final days as comfortable as possible given the circumstances.”
O’Donnell was a key supporter and campaigner on behalf of the End of Life Option Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in October. The law, which has not yet taken effect, allows doctors to prescribe lethal prescriptions to patients with a terminal illness who are expected to die within six months.
“Christy worked tirelessly for the passage of the End of Life Option Act,” Compassion Choices California campaign director Toni Broaddus said. “Our hearts are breaking at the loss of this amazing woman who did so much for others even as she was facing her own death. It’s a tragedy Christy could not take advantage of the new law she so bravely fought for during the last months of her life. We have so much gratitude for Christy and her work.”
O’Donnell, who became a civil rights attorney following her time with the LAPD, was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in 2014. It eventually spread to her brain, liver, spine and a rib, and her doctors gave her only months to live. While advocating for the End of Life Option Act, she was a plaintiff in a lawsuit asserting that existing state law already permitted medically assisted suicide.
While campaigning on behalf of the End of Life Options Act, she became a public face of the effort, appearing in People magazine and a host of other publications.
She is survived by her 21-year-old daughter, Bailey Donorovich.
