Doctor-assisted suicide allowed by Supreme Court in specific cases
People with grievous and irremediable medical conditions should have the right to ask a doctor to help them die, Canada's highest court says in a unanimous ruling.
The Supreme Court of Canada says a law that makes it illegal for anyone to help a person commit suicide should be amended to allow doctors to help in specific situations.
The ruling only applies to competent adults with enduring, intolerable suffering who clearly consent to ending their lives.
The court has given federal and provincial governments 12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling; the ban on doctor-assisted suicide stands until then. If the government doesn't write a new law, the current one will be struck down.
The ruling is not limited to those with a physical disability who require a physician's assistance to end their lives.
All nine justices share the writing credit on the ruling, an unusual action meant to signal particular institutional weight behind the decision.
'Impinges' on security of the person
The court says the charter right to life doesn't require an absolute prohibition on assistance in dying.
"This would create a 'duty to live,' rather than a 'right to life,' and would call into question the legality of any consent to the withdrawal or refusal of lifesaving or life-sustaining treatment," the court wrote in the decision.
Lee Carter is comforted by a lifelong-friend as she leaves the Supreme Court with her husband, Hollis Johnson, in Ottawa on Oct. 15, 2014. The court will rule Friday on whether it should be legal for doctors to help patients end their lives. Carter is one of the two lead plaintiffs in the landmark case. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
"An individual's choice about the end of her life
http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/politics/d...-by-supreme-court-in-specific-cases-1.2947487
People with grievous and irremediable medical conditions should have the right to ask a doctor to help them die, Canada's highest court says in a unanimous ruling.
The Supreme Court of Canada says a law that makes it illegal for anyone to help a person commit suicide should be amended to allow doctors to help in specific situations.
The ruling only applies to competent adults with enduring, intolerable suffering who clearly consent to ending their lives.
The court has given federal and provincial governments 12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling; the ban on doctor-assisted suicide stands until then. If the government doesn't write a new law, the current one will be struck down.
The ruling is not limited to those with a physical disability who require a physician's assistance to end their lives.
All nine justices share the writing credit on the ruling, an unusual action meant to signal particular institutional weight behind the decision.
'Impinges' on security of the person
The court says the charter right to life doesn't require an absolute prohibition on assistance in dying.
"This would create a 'duty to live,' rather than a 'right to life,' and would call into question the legality of any consent to the withdrawal or refusal of lifesaving or life-sustaining treatment," the court wrote in the decision.
Lee Carter is comforted by a lifelong-friend as she leaves the Supreme Court with her husband, Hollis Johnson, in Ottawa on Oct. 15, 2014. The court will rule Friday on whether it should be legal for doctors to help patients end their lives. Carter is one of the two lead plaintiffs in the landmark case. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
"An individual's choice about the end of her life
http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/politics/d...-by-supreme-court-in-specific-cases-1.2947487