Right to Assisted Suicide in Canada

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androbot01
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06 Feb 2015, 1:34 pm

link - Globe & Mail

Quote:

Canadians have right to doctor-assisted suicide, Supreme Court rules

Quote:

Canadian adults who are mentally competent and suffering intolerably and permanently have the right to a doctor’s help in dying, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Friday morning.

The court suspended its ruling for 12 months to give the Canadian government, medical regulatory bodies and the provinces a chance to draft new laws and policies around assisted dying. It said doctors have the ability to address whether an individual is capable of consent, and said the intolerable suffering can be physical or psychological.

I think this is a positive step. Society needs to deal with end of life, not warehouse people in nursing homes.

Shauna88
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06 Feb 2015, 2:22 pm

Only if they want it.

androbot01
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06 Feb 2015, 4:46 pm

Quote:

OTTAWA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada overturned a ban on physician-assisted suicide on Friday, unanimously reversing a decision it made in 1993 and putting Canada in the company of a handful of Western countries to make it legal.

The top court said mentally competent, consenting adults who have intolerable physical or psychological suffering from a severe and incurable medical condition have the right to a doctor's help to die. The illness does not have to be terminal. The decision takes effect in 12 months.

Quote:

Religious groups and organizations representing disabled people had opposed any relaxation of the ban, arguing that this would make them vulnerable to being killed.

"This ruling has made it clear that people with disabilities are being targeted and invited to end their lives," said Taylor Hyatt, who has cerebral palsy and spoke from a wheelchair in the Supreme Court foyer. "There's an assumption that your life is unbearable and there's nothing good in it."

link

Well, I think its more important to have access to safe end of life procedures than it is a worry that people may be killed inappropriately. I think it will be highly regimented and safe.

em_tsuj
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06 Feb 2015, 5:26 pm

I'm moving to Canada.

auntblabby
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07 Feb 2015, 3:33 am

Washington state has an assisted suicide setup in place also. I wouldn't mind going like how it was depicted in the movie "soylent green."

Orangez
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07 Feb 2015, 3:43 am

I am pretty sure the government will Not With Standing clause their way out of this problem as it is too much of big issue to handle on an election year.

CockneyRebel
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08 Feb 2015, 6:13 pm

I think it's a step in the wrong direction. I can see parents of special needs children using it as a form of glorified murder to impose on their children. "My child has handicap germs....I'm going to kill it, because it's now legal to do so."

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Orangez
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09 Feb 2015, 12:50 am

CockneyRebel wrote:

I totally agree with you even if I am pro-suicide as a choice. I believe people should conquer their biologies themselves and do not let a doctor kill them which it is basically what it could be.

mr_bigmouth_502
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09 Feb 2015, 1:46 am

I agree with the right to assisted suicide, only IF the person who wants to die is in a sound enough state of mind to give consent. I don't think someone who has a painful terminal illness should be forced to be kept alive, but I also don't think they should be "encouraged" to seek assisted suicide either; I think it needs to be their own decision, and no one else's.

auntblabby
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09 Feb 2015, 1:49 am

the most important thing is to live in a state that at least recognizes advance directives, some don't.

androbot01
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10 Feb 2015, 12:25 am

link - Globe & Mail

Quote:

Even though this litigation began in 2011, and is likely to cause fewer than 1 per cent of all Canadian deaths annually, our country is probably not ready for this momentous event.

Symbolically, this decision changes Canada. It forces acceptance of the fact that for some people who suffer terribly and have no prospect of adequate relief, death is not feared but welcomed. Physicians, who have traditionally preserved life, may soon take the lives of consenting patients. Although many people – including many doctors – agree with the decision, others do not like this change and some people are afraid.

Quote:

Since the litigation began, we have heard health care providers and some members of the public express significant fear. Some people incorrectly believe that this decision will disproportionately affect the elderly, and include the killing of infants or the mentally infirm.

Quote:

Provincial legislatures must act quickly by stipulating through legislation and accompanying regulations how physician assisted dying will be conducted. At least five jurisdictions in the United States and Europe have experience and law that can serve as precedent.

I think with regulations and safeguards that people will not die before they are ready. Even if this does happen, it is still better for people to have medical assistance for the end of life.

April93
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10 Feb 2015, 3:56 am

This made me very happy when I heard about this.

Whenever we had to choose a persuasive essay topic in school, I'd usually choose the topic of assisted suicide. (Assuming I had a different teacher each time). I really believed it should be an option for those that wanted it.

So, this makes me very happy. It's a reality in Canada now. This Canadian is very happy.

auntblabby
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10 Feb 2015, 4:00 am

I wonder how much more liberal a policy it will be compared to that which is in effect in Washington state?

ApertaVerbum
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10 Feb 2015, 5:16 am

With this and the latest in designer babies we're moving more towards a culture of eugenics.

The pragmatist in me says its a good thing, My fiance tells me its a bad thing. I rely on her moral compass being devoid of one myself.

The population of the Earth is getting too high though so I'm in favour of people who want to die being allowed to do so. My one trepidation is how to create criteria based on emotion rather than medical. Would someone who suffers from depression be allowed suicide on that basis alone? Not sure about the ethics of that one tbh.

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Jacoby
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10 Feb 2015, 4:04 pm

Assisted suicide to me poses a serious slippery slope(as already shown in Belgium where they kill children and the mentally ill) and runs completely against the oath that all doctors take. Medicine to me is about healing and preserving life, killing should not be apart of that.

auntblabby
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10 Feb 2015, 4:05 pm

when it comes my time to go, I would appreciate medical assistance.

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