B.C. judge makes assisted-suicide legal

[petros]

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has declared Canada's law against physician-assisted suicide unconstitutional.


Justice Lynn Smith called the law discriminatory, stating that since suicide itself is not illegal, the law against assisted suicide contravenes Section 15 of the Charter. The law, the judge said, does not guarantee equality to physically disabled people like Gloria Taylor, a B.C. woman with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), the same rights as able-bodied people who can take their own lives. However, Smith stipulates that her ruling only apply to "competent, fully informed, non-ambivalent adult persons who personally (not through a substituted decision-maker) request physician-assisted death, are free from coercion and undue influence and are not clinically depressed." "The impact of that distinction is felt particularly acutely by persons such as Ms. Taylor, who are grievously and irremediably ill, physically disabled or soon to become so, mentally competent and who wish to have some control over their circumstances at the end of their lives," Smith writes. "The distinction is discriminatory … because it perpetuates disadvantage."

 

[SLM]

I've never understood why we 'humanely' put down the cat and the dog "so they won't suffer" yet we insist that Grandma & Grandpa should live through the final stages of terminal cancer.

It's about freaking time!

 

[wizard]

... this is another sickening example of a special interest group -- canadian lawyers --making drastic unwanted changes to canadian law. the lawyers who brought this petition are not elected or even appointed by elected officials and they don't speak for the people of canada. they speak for the bar. period. we don't want the bar attempting to make these kinds of changes to the law on their own ...

... we like to think that doctors are exclusively involved in prolonging and saving lives, not ending them ...

... the idea that there is going to be a life-termination component to healthcare in canadian hospitals is extremely troubling and extremely disturbing ...

 

[WLDB]

I've never understood why we 'humanely' put down the cat and the dog "so they won't suffer" yet we insist that Grandma & Grandpa should live through the final stages of terminal cancer.

It's about freaking time!

I totally agree. My grandmother wanted it. She couldnt. Instead she wasted away mentally long before her body gave out. Dimentia.

I really hope this holds up and is available when Im either old or terminally ill. I may not use it, but Id like the option to be there.

 

[SLM]

I totally agree. My grandmother wanted it. She couldnt. Instead she wasted away mentally long before her body gave out. Dimentia.

I really hope this holds up and is available when Im either old or terminally ill. I may not use it, but Id like the option to be there.

Absolutely. Basically when it gets to the point in the treatment process where the doctor's look at "just making you comfortable", then the patient should have the option, if he or she chooses it.

I've watched people die of cancer, it is horrific. No one should have to suffer like that.

 

[wizard]

... the judgment stinks ...

... and why bring the medical profession into it? do the doctors of canada even want the role of killing people? why not appoint some other body to do the killing and leave the doctors to simply saving and prolonging lives, not ending them?

 

[MapleDog]

... the judgment stinks ...

... and why bring the medical profession into it? do the doctors of canada even want the role of killing people? why not appoint some other body to do the killing and leave the doctors to simply saving and prolonging lives, not ending them?

Doctors have been stretching the Hypocratic oath to its extreme limit,and beyond,which is in my opinion kinda cruel to those who suffer,even Hypocrate would have stopped a longtime before it was too much for the person.

 

[WLDB]

... the judgment stinks ...

... and why bring the medical profession into it? do the doctors of canada even want the role of killing people? why not appoint some other body to do the killing and leave the doctors to simply saving and prolonging lives, not ending them?

The hippocratic oath is optional and isnt really binding. Its just a fun thing doctors keep around for sentimental reasons. In the US they take part in executions.

I imagine there are plenty of doctors who would like to relieve the pain of their patients-even if it means death. Dr. Kevorkian was one. Doctors have been practicing euthanasia for as long as the profession has existed. They've just had to hide it better in recent history.

 

[Cliffy]

... the judgment stinks ...

... and why bring the medical profession into it? do the doctors of canada even want the role of killing people? why not appoint some other body to do the killing and leave the doctors to simply saving and prolonging lives, not ending them?

You really do like to go against the grain, don't you. How is it humane to leave people to endure long painful deaths because of some antiquated notion that human life is somehow more sacred that any other.

 

[SLM]

... the judgment stinks ...

... and why bring the medical profession into it? do the doctors of canada even want the role of killing people? why not appoint some other body to do the killing and leave the doctors to simply saving and prolonging lives, not ending them?

Who exactly do you propose for assuming the role if not doctors? Should we get plumbers to do it? Maybe electricians?

 

[Cliffy]

Who exactly do you propose for assuming the role if not doctors? Should we get plumbers to do it? Maybe electricians?

Suicide used to be a capital offense until the 50s or 60s punishable by death. Ironic eh! "You are such a loser that you couldn't even do that right, so we'll do it for you." Yup, the good ol' days!

I know, we can use electricians and bring back the chair, then we can watch them do the funky chicken live on TV; the ultimate reality show. I bet that would make the Wizz piss his pants with glee.

 

[SLM]

Suicide used to be a capital offense until the 50s or 60s punishable by death. Ironic eh! "You are such a loser that you couldn't even do that right, so we'll do it for you." Yup, the good ol' days!

I know, we can use electricians and bring back the chair, then we can watch them do the funky chicken live on TV; the ultimate reality show. I bet that would make the Wizz piss his pants with glee.

That's exactly what someone with terminal cancer needs, the electric chair.

But it would show those damned lawyers!

 

[WLDB]

Suicide used to be a capital offense until the 50s or 60s punishable by death. Ironic eh! "You are such a loser that you couldn't even do that right, so we'll do it for you." Yup, the good ol' days!

I read a case of a man in Japan who couldnt bring himself to commit suicide but he wanted to die. So he killed someone to get the death sentence. It worked, but so far as I know he's still waiting. Strange form of suicide.

 

[MapleDog]

Suicide used to be a capital offense until the 50s or 60s punishable by death. Ironic eh! "You are such a loser that you couldn't even do that right, so we'll do it for you." Yup, the good ol' days!

I know, we can use electricians and bring back the chair, then we can watch them do the funky chicken live on TV; the ultimate reality show. I bet that would make the Wizz piss his pants with glee.

About death penalties/sentence,i remember hearing a guy was condemn to be hanged,but apparently he was so fat,they decided not to hang him(they didn't want to decapitate him)

 

[taxslave]

That's exactly what someone with terminal cancer needs, the electric chair.

But it would show those damned lawyers!

I was thinking more of letting the lawyers sit in it. Just for $hits and giggles.

I have been to two suicides by vehicle. One woman used a dump truck the other used a grayhound bus. Not the nicest thing to do to the people in the other vehicles.

 

[Kakato]

I was thinking more of letting the lawyers sit in it. Just for $hits and giggles.

I have been to two suicides by vehicle. One woman used a dump truck the other used a grayhound bus. Not the nicest thing to do to the people in the other vehicles.

I hate graphs but this is interesting,im on the downward slope now untill 65 and then the stats dont look good.

Suicides and suicide rate, by sex and by age group

 

[skookumchuck]

One can personally prepare themselves for exit. It is not rocket science to hoard enough drugs or even buy them, but to wait till the last minute when you are incapable is not kind to your family. Never mind putting the onus on society and your family just do it while you still can.

 

[JLM]

I hate graphs but this is interesting,im on the downward slope now untill 65 and then the stats dont look good.

Suicides and suicide rate, by sex and by age group

If you can make it until 80 it looks like life starts to get easier then! :lol::lol:

 

[SLM]

I was thinking more of letting the lawyers sit in it. Just for $hits and giggles.

I don't even want to think of the thrill the whiz-kid would get out of that one.8O

I have been to two suicides by vehicle. One woman used a dump truck the other used a grayhound bus. Not the nicest thing to do to the people in the other vehicles.

A member of the family who owned my office building decided to hang himself in the sub-basement of the building a couple of years ago. Not the nicest thing for the poor lady who was sent to find him for a staff meeting.

One can personally prepare themselves for exit. It is not rocket science to hoard enough drugs or even buy them, but to wait till the last minute when you are incapable is not kind to your family. Never mind putting the onus on society and your family just do it while you still can.

Sometimes it's not all that cut and dried. I would like to think that I can pre-arrange my wishes so that, heaven forbid, I was ever on a feeding tube and vegetative and unable to do this for myself that easing the end could still be done. With the preventative barrier in place of no assisted suicides, the only options are to exist in a vegetative state or remove the feeding tube and let people starve to death. I don't care how you slice it, that's not a humane way to treat a loved one in my opinion.

 

[Niflmir]

This sounds exactly like the dutch model. Its about time. Nobody needs to suffer through the final stages of debilitating diseases without having such a choice.

Problems do occur; there are always some gray areas. Let us say I put in my will that I want to be euthanised if I ever suffer from so severe Alzheimer's that I do not recognize my own family. Problem with that is, you ask the individual who is basically no longer the same person if they want to die and they usually say no.