Evaluation Report: California Mediated Publc Policy on Physician-Assisted Suicide and End-of-Life Issues
Center for Collaborative Policy
(formerly the California Center for Public Dispute Resolution)
(October 2002)
Abstract. At the request of the California State Assembly Select Committee on Palliative Care, a group of nineteen stakeholders and interested individuals assembled in a mediated process to discuss end of life issues. This group met beginning November 1, 2001, and convened nine times before ending in June 2002 with a final report.
This report is an evaluation of the dialogue using a methodology appropriate for such consensus seeking dialogue processes. The purpose of the evaluation is to assist the sponsors of the project, RESOLVE, Inc. and potential sponsors of similar projects to understand how the process may have changed the dynamics of participants engaged in the process and contributed to changes in public policy related to the issues of end of life care (EOL) and physician-assisted suicide/dying (PAS). The evaluation was designed and conducted by the California Center for Public Dispute Resolution, using a special evaluation methodology designed by the Center for this process.
Outcome results were mixed; on one hand, the process resulted in social, intellectual, and political capital among the participants, but questions remain as to quality of the agreement. Based upon participant responses, several challenges can be expected for implementation of the recommendations, including California’s difficult budget situation, legislative institutional constraints such as term limits for legislators, and potential opposition to some of the recommendations of other important interests that were not represented in the process.
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