First right-to-die clinic opens in California - Note for a discussion, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United."

FILE - In this May 18, 2016 file photo, California Gov. Jerry Brown gestures during a community event in Sacramento, Calif. The Citizen Compensation Commission approved a 4 precent pay raise for Brown and other top elected California officials, Wednesday, 

[JB comment: The cheap way to go?]

By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - Thursday, June 9, 2016

For the tidy sum of $2,000, terminally ill Californians can now pay a doctor to help them commit suicide.

Dr. Lonny Shavelson, who heads Bay Area End of Life Options, said he charges $200 for an initial evaluation and $1,800 in other fees to help patients kill themselves.

The medical practice began offering the service Thursday, after a law permitting physician-assisted suicide officially went into effect. 

Dr. Shavelson, a 64-year-old former emergency-room doctor, said he stopped practicing medicine for two years in order to work on a documentary regarding gender fluidity, but decided to reopen his doors in response to the law.

“I stopped doing medicine,” he told the Mercury News. “I wasn’t sure if I would ever go back into it. Then this happened.”

He advocated legalizing euthanasia for several decades, writing a book in which he documented the underground black market for death.