California woman holds party before killing herself

This July 24, 2016 photo provided by Niels Alpert, Amanda Friedland, left, surrounded by friends and family adjusts her friend Betsy Davis's sash as she lays on a bed during her "Right To Die Party" in Ojai, Calif. In early July, Davis emailed her closest friends and family to invite them to a two-day celebration, telling them: "These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness, and openness. And one rule: No crying." The 41-year-old woman diagnosed with ALS, held the party to say goodbye before becoming one of the first California residents to take life-ending drugs under a new law that gave such an option to the terminally ill. (Niels Alpert via AP) This July 24, 2016 photo provided by Niels Alpert, Amanda Friedland, left, surrounded by friends and family adjusts her friend Betsy Davis's sash as she lays on a bed during her "Right To Die Party" in Ojai, Calif. In early July, Davis emailed her closest friends and family to invite them to a two-day celebration, telling them: "These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness, and openness. And one rule: No crying." The 41-year-old woman diagnosed with ALS, held the party to say goodbye before becoming one of the first California residents to take life-ending drugs under a new law that gave such an option to the terminally ill. (Niels Alpert via AP)

By Associated Press August 11, 2016 1 min read

SAN DIEGO (AP) – A California woman with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, held a two-day party for her friends and relatives to say goodbye before taking her life with a dose of prescribed drugs.

Betsy Davis, 41, became one of the first Californians to make use a new state law allowing doctor-assisted suicide. Four other states have such laws, with Oregon the first in 1997.

Davis shared her plans with her guests, giving them a detailed schedule for the weekend that included the hour she planned to slip into a coma.

There were cocktails. There was pizza from her favorite local joint. There was a screening of one of her favorite movies. And then her friends said their goodbyes and left.

Davis was wheeled out to a canopy bed on a hillside and took her own life.