Canada to allow doctor-assisted suicide

Canada scraps assisted suicide ban
Supreme Court strikes down laws barring doctor-assisted suicide for patients with grievous conditions
The Sunday Times, 8 Feb 2015

Ottawa - In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has struck down laws banning doctor-assisted suicide for patients with "grievous and irremediable" medical conditions.

The unanimous decision, which reverses the position taken by the court 22 years ago, came more quickly than expected.

"The prohibition on physician-assisted dying infringes the right to life, liberty and security of the person in a manner that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice," the court wrote, adding that an absolute ban is not needed to ensure that vulnerable people are not coerced "to commit suicide at a time of weakness".

The decision on Friday, which follows hearings last fall, comes at a time when Canadians are widely debating assisted deaths.

Until the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, it seemed likely to be overturned under federal criminal law.

A key - and counterintuitive - part of the court's decision was that the criminal ban on doctor-assisted death actually infringed on patients' right to life, "as it has the effect of forcing some individuals to take their own lives prematurely, for fear that they would be incapable of doing so when they reached the point where suffering was intolerable", The Guardian reported.

Before this decision, a doctor who helped a patient die faced a 14-year jail term.

Friday's decision gives Parliament a year to draft new legislation that recognises the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to seek medical help in ending their lives. It does not limit doctor-assisted death to those suffering a terminal illness.

Mr Steven Fletcher, a Conservative member of Parliament who was paralysed in 1996 in a car accident, praised the court's ruling.

"It will allow people to live longer because they will have the peace of mind knowing that they won't have a horrible death," he told reporters at the Supreme Court, noting that some patients kill themselves when they are still capable of doing so because they do not have later options.

But some groups that advocate for disabled people and some churches urged the court not to revoke the law, arguing that this would make them vulnerable to being killed.

"This is a sensitive issue for many Canadians, with deeply held beliefs on both sides," Justice Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement on Friday.

"We will study the decision and ensure all perspectives on this difficult issue are heard."

The two women from British Columbia whose legal cases led to the court's decision did not live to learn about it.

Five years ago, Ms Kay Carter, who was suffering from a degenerative condition known as spinal stenosis, was taken to Switzerland, where assisted deaths are legal, to die.

At the court, Ms Lee Carter, her daughter, said the decision was "a huge victory for Canadians and a legacy for Kay".

Ms Gloria Taylor died in 2012 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), called Lou Gehrig's disease, which is a type of motor neuron disease that causes nerve cells to gradually break down and die.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) in August altered its long-established opposition to doctors' assisting in suicides.

Its new policy allows physicians, within the bounds of laws, "to follow their conscience when deciding whether to provide medical aid in dying".

The CMA said it would consult with the government on a new framework.

In 1993, the court upheld the laws against physician-assisted death in a case brought in British Columbia by Ms Sue Rodriguez, who had ALS. In that decision, the court said that it feared that legalised assisted suicide could be abused at the expense of weak and vulnerable people.

Canada now joins a handful of countries and US states in allowing physician-assisted suicide.

Countries including Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland have legalised doctor-assisted suicides.

States in the US which also allow such acts are Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

New York Times, Reuters, AFP