What safeguards need to be included in the coming law on assisted-death?
Assisting death: The Supreme Court of Canada says the law must be changed to allow some people to get assistance in ending their lives.
It raises many questions such as: Will doctors be compelled to help? How do you ensure the decision is made freely?
What do you think? How should the law be changed?
GUESTS & LINKS
TWITTER & EMAIL
DOWNLOAD MP3 (right click, choose 'Save Target/Link As')
INTRODUCTION
Ten days ago the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that surprised Canadians. Not so much because they didn't see it coming, but more because effectively it marked Canada's entry into a small list of jurisdictions that permit some form of euthanasia.
The decision says the law must change to include an option for assisted-death or assisted suicide for some Canadians ...specifically individuals who are experiencing what the Court called "enduring suffering."
Parliament has one year to change the law. Concerns have been raised about how to set this option in law. The details are important. Just three such questions raised are: Will doctors be compelled to perform the procedure? How do you ensure the patient's decision is made freely? And probably the most contentious is ...on what grounds will people be able to justify their decision to end their life? The court specified suffering, but what about disabilities, dementia, and mental illness such as severe depression?
There are other questions. We want to hear your views.
Doctors have responded in varying degrees. While some expressed fears it would become part of their job description, others say they will soon have another option to help them alleviate the suffering of their patients who are gravely ill.
Other groups have worries about how the consent of the patient will be handled. They say any law with assisted suicide as an option must ensure that the ill or weak will be able to avoid the influence or pressure of others who might be less inclined to persevere with their illness.
The decision has placed new emphasis on the quality of palliative care in Canada. Is it good enough? Can we be confident that lack of adequate palliative care will not contribute to people making the decision to end their lives?
I'm Rex Murphy ...on CBC Radio One ...and on Sirius XM, satellite radio channel 169 ...this is Cross Country Checkup.
GUESTS
Dr. James Downar
Critical Care and Palliative Care Physician at the University Health Network in Toronto. Assistant Professor, Divisions of Critical Care and Palliative Care, University of Toronto.
Twitter: @jamesdownar
Dr. Susan MacDonald
Medical Director of Palliative Care for Eastern Health, St John's, Newfoundland. President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.
Twitter: @CanadianHPCAssn
Steven Fletcher
Conservative MP for Charleswood-St. James, Manitoba
Twitter: @HonSFletcherMP
Larry Wortheson
Lawyer, deacon in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth and Executive Director of the Christian Medical and Dental Society.
LINKS
CBC.ca
- Assisted suicide: Physicians want more palliative care as well
- Supreme Court says yes to doctor-assisted suicide in specific cases
- Supreme Court's assisted-death reversal welcomed by Quebec government
- Anti-euthanasia doctors hostile to Quebec's assisted suicide bill
- Doctor-assisted suicide a therapeutic service, says Canadian Medical Association
- Timeline: Assisted suicide in Canada
- Assisted suicide: Where do Canada, other countries stand?
- Assisted suicide a risk to those with disabilities
Globe and Mail
- Time for a quick compromise on assisted suicide
- Doctor-assisted suicide: The next steps for Canada’s physicians
- Physician-assisted suicide: How will Friday’s ruling play out in the political arena?
- Four issues surrounding the Supreme Court ruling on assisted death
- The Supreme Court has changed the way I talk to my patients about death, by Jean Marmoreo
- Overriding top court’s assisted-death ruling like ‘nuclear bomb’: MacKay
- Time for a quick compromise on assisted suicide, by Tom Flanagan
- Ottawa must now draft an assisted-suicide law. It should look to Quebec
- Physician-assisted suicide opponents regroup after Supreme Court ruling
- Next step in assisted suicide: Ensuring it can be done humanely, André Picard
National Post
- Conservatives will find themselves on wrong side of public opinion if they fight assisted-suicide decision, by John Ivison
- In wake of assisted-suicide ruling, a huge question looms: who does the killing?
- Crossing the Rubicon, Supreme Court seems eerily complacent about ramifications of assisted suicide ruling, by Andrew Coyne
- Keep the state out of the killing rooms of the nation, by Barbara Kay
- Avoid a ‘wild west’ of mercy killing, say those who’ve grown up with assisted-suicide laws
- For some, palliative care simply does not alleviate pain, by Brett Belchetz
- Helping suffering patients die may be doctor’s most humane option, Canadian Medical Association says
Maclean's
- Top court allows ‘physician-assisted death’ by John Geddes
- Interview: The CMA’s president on assisted dying
- On assisted suicide, the Supreme Court confronts Parliament’s cowardice
- You should not have to win a lottery to die in dignity