Supreme Court strikes down Canada’s assisted suicide laws

[Drache]

Canada's high court has struck down the country's laws against physician-assisted suicide.

That means it will no longer be against the law for a doctor to help someone who is terminally ill to end their lives – but the new rules won't kick in for a year.

And it can only be done under several conditions.

In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the Criminal Code laws prohibiting physician-assisted death infringes Section 7 of the Charter, which states that everyone has right to life, liberty and security of the person.

"Here, the prohibition deprives some individuals of life, as it has the effects 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," read the decision, which was written anonymously by the Court.

"The prohibition denies people in this situation the right to make decisions concerning their bodily integrity and medical care and thus trenches on their liberty. And by leaving them to endure intolerable suffering, it impinges on their security of the person."

– The person must be a competent adult would clearly consents to the termination of life;

– The person must have a "grievous and irremediable" medical condition, which includes an illness, disease or disability;

– The medical condition must cause "endless suffering" that is intolerable to the person, although that suffering can be physical or psychological.

The court did not lay out guidelines for the process in determining these conditions, nor comment about Parliament's role in the matter.

The government doesn't have to respond but the two sections of the Criminal Code which prevent people from consenting to their own deaths or allow others to aid in their suicide become null in 12 months.

The Canadian Medical Association, which sets the guidelines for 80,000 doctors across the country, has -already spent the past year and a half preparing for the decision in event that the law was struck down.

CMA President Chris Simpson told Global News he hoped the association would be consulted in drafting new rules.

The court's decision also confirmed that regulation over health care can be handled by both the provincial and federal government. Last year, Quebec passed its own medical aid in dying law.

It's not the first time the Supreme Court has looked into the issue of assisted suicide. In 1993, the top court reviewed the case of Sue Rodriguez, who suffered from ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, and wanted to end her own life. In a split decision, the court upheld the law.

In the new ruling, the court found the breadth of the Charter has changed since the early 1990s. It also said the social landscape has evolved, because assisted dying is permitted in other places such as Belgium, Switzerland, and Oregon.

Friday's case was originally brought forward by two B.C. women, who have both since died, who wished to end their illnesses with medical help.

More to come.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1815749/supreme-court-strikes-down-canadas-assisted-suicide-laws/

[polywideblock]

   gives people the right to die with dignity    


    we had similar laws until a "moral" political party( and a very moral politician now our prime minister ) and the vocal minority got the media involved and the federal government "baned" assisted suicides in states where it was legal    

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Nitschke

[500Jon]

Much better to die with Dignity with your loved ones in the KNOW!

The sad Folks who hang themselves in the garage so their wife or children find them dead, are very SELFISH!!!
They are only thinking of themselves, but some illnesses mental and physical will do that to you, I suppose???

There is a famous Football commentator here in the UK, walked out in front of a TRUCK, but survived...
The Coach of the Welsh National Football team found hanged in his house, by his wife!
Suicides in Prisons at an all time high, we have a Lifers Prison just up the road...
They certainly aren't poor or hungry, have everything they want, so what's their excuses then???

That's the problem, what do you say to the guy/gal who wants to die when he/her has no REAL reason???

[Mike DC]

The sad Folks who hang themselves in the garage so their wife or children find them dead, are very SELFISH!!!

If one of my loved ones was so depressed that they wanted to die, I wouldn't be selfish enough to expect them to keep living in misery for decades just to make things easier on everyone else. 

[ACUDANUT]

REALLY.  I don't see our opinions being worth a Damn.

[hemi71x]

A California legislator has introduced a bill in the state senate to get a bill like that into law, out here, too.

But i seriously doubt anything like that will get through the legislature in this state.

I will tell you this much though, right now i am going through treatment for two potentially life threatining illnesses, and if worse comes to worse, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, i want to go out on my terms, instead of a lingering illness, just waiting to die.

I have prostate cancer, and a bone marrow disease, (mutation) that can potentially do me in, if things go the wrong way.
But as of now, the doctors are telling me all seems to be going well, with my treatments.

If anything goes bad in the future, i personally don't want a lingering end, and want to control my own fate.

My two cents on the subject.
Jim V.

[RallyeMike]

There is a lot of information out there on the success of Oregon's death with dignity laws which have been in place for some time. It mostly seems that those in opposition are the types of people who think they have a moral obligation to impose their believes on others. I think Canada has made the right choice to allow people to choose for themselves nationally rather than have it restricted in certain provinces and allowed elsewhere.



Hang in there Jim V.

[myk]

Stay strong Jim...

[bull]

There is a lot of information out there on the success of Oregon's death with dignity laws which have been in place for some time. It mostly seems that those in opposition are the types of people who think they have a moral obligation to impose their believes on others. I think Canada has made the right choice to allow people to choose for themselves nationally rather than have it restricted in certain provinces and allowed elsewhere.

[/quote

But of course passing a law that institutionalizes a given moral stance, be it left or right or religious or nonreligious, imposes a belief upon society. It could certainly be argued that two consenting adults should be able to get married and procreate but when those two consenting adults turn out to be siblings society typically rules that it should be outlawed for the good of society. Deciding where the lines are drawn cannot always simply boil down to one group imposing its beliefs on others.

[polywideblock]

its not really about good/ bad , right/ wrong   

     its about the right to choose for yourself while you still have all your faculties and are of sound mind .

                             rather than slowly wasting away or slipping into vegitabledom

                                its the choice itself that is the release 

[TUFCAT]

Its never a good idea when government gets involved with life choices.  The threat of Government insisting upon their own charade of "substitute judgment" almost always gets in the way of individuals rights.....

These types of decisions should never be left to some  government "professional" who doesn't know (...or care to know) the facts in the first place!  

However, in the age of government-funded and government-controlled healthcare, controlling our personal life choices may become more and more obvious.