Allowing death to occur when the patient specifically refuses further therapy is to acknowledge the natural limit of autonomy. This does not extend to refusal of basic care and does not mean the withdrawal of comfort measures. In 1991, the BC Royal Commission concluded that "the person who is dying should have the right to determine the form and time of death...There is a right to commit suicide, and a physician should be
allowed to assist a person who chooses to exercise that right." The Right to Die Society in Canada based in Victoria.
“Affirms the right of any mature individual who is chronically or terminally ill to choose the time, place, and means of his or her death. Suicide and euthanasia are a legitimate response to the declining quality of life which many individuals experience as they grow older, or which they suffer as a result of accidents or congenital disabilities.”
This society actively lobbies politically for active euthanasia, and provides counselling to every member who wishes to know about assistance- in-dying. Similarly, the Canadian Medical Association has run a series of articles on euthanasia. Eike Kluge, the former CMA ethicist, is outspokenly pro-euthanasia. A recent article published as a discussion article stated, "What a strange world we live in, that we are kinder to our animals than we are to human beings." His colleague, Ethics Committee Chairman, Dr. Arthur Parsons, asked "Who is going to get into the lifeboat? Is it better to keep a severely retarded person alive, or spend your tight resources on bypass surgery for a father of four?" This brings up two important issues, the first, that euthanasia is still used for animals, despite being called "putting to sleep", and secondly, the issue of money and the costliness of keeping a person alive. Research shows that the most expensive term of care for a patient is the final six months prior to their deaths. The financial burden for a seemingly hopeless case is unbearable, not just for the family, but for the patient as well. The patient, in their last few days, should not have to worry about being a financial burden, but the truth is healthcare is expensive. As Dr. Parsons argued, it may be better to supply those crucial healthcare dollars to the father of four who requires surgery because the chances of success are phenomenally better than the comatose or terminally ill patient.
Current euthanasia advocates have realized that active euthanasia is too difficult to push through Parliament. They have elected to go through assisted suicide which opens the door to active euthanasia. Svend Robinson has proposed Bill C385 which would amend the Criminal Code to allow doctors to assist in the suicide of a patient who is terminal and requests this. In 1972, suicide was decriminalized in Canada, keeping with the understanding that suicide is not a rational act and these people need help, not incarceration if the suicide attempt was unsuccessful.
The BC Commission into health care costs stated that suicide is a right and that physicians should be empowered to assist patients who choose to exercise that right. As it stands now, Section 241 of the Criminal Code states that it is illegal to counsel or assist someone to commit suicide. Section 14 presently reads "no person is entitled to consent to have death inflicted on him". These laws exist to protect the vulnerable, and people open to coercion. It also recognizes that suicide is not a rational act, being an act of desperation and depression out of hopelessness and helplessness. Because something is not illegal does not make it a right. In other words, your right to suicide is my obligation to assist your suicide.
This obligation clearly does not exist as Justice Melvin found in the Sue Rodriguez case. Sue Rodriguez, a 42 year old woman who has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down the section of the Criminal Code that makes aiding suicide illegal. A graphic article published in The Globe and Mail, September 1992, written by John Hofsess, the director of the right to Die Society, describes her plight with this progressively paralyzing disease as "condemned to die". Her future is described as a "helpless, drooling, physically atrophied captive of this disease, dependent on other people and machines for an ever attenuated form of mere biological existence". Her lawyers argued that Section 241 of the Criminal Code, which makes it an offence to assist anyone to commit suicide, violates Section 7 of the Charter of Rights, which guarantees liberty and security of the person. The Justices stressed the significant difference between palliative care and physician-assisted suicide, saying Rodriguez failed to show her right to fundamental justice is infringed by the existing criminal law. University of Manitoba law professor Barney Sneiderman says charges are rarely laid because the Crown recognizes that juries generally sympathize with doctors who end the agony of dying patients.
Some doctors fear that even providing a patient with the means to commit suicide, for example, prescribing enough pills that might be hoarded and used for an overdose, would constitute aiding or abetting the action of euthanasia. But Sneiderman argues that the courts would likely require prosecutors to prove intent. A doctor might suspect a patient was hoarding pills, but because the pills were not prescribed for the purpose of aiding a suicide, the doctor would probably have a good defence. For illustration, Sneiderman says an Edmonton doctor was charged under Section 217, saying a person has a legal duty to perform an act if not doing it would endanger life, and Section 219, which defines criminal negligence and includes both acts and omissions that would Justices Proudfoot and Hollinrake, both agreed with Justice McEarchern, the sole dissenter, that the legality of physician-assisted suicide is a matter for Parliament to decide.
Bibliography:
1. Keown, John, ed. Euthanasia Examined: Ethical, Clinical and Legal Perspectives. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
2. Margaret P. Battin The Death Debate: Ethical Issues in Suicide. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
3. Smith, Wesley J. Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder. New York: Times Books, 1997.
4. Compassionate Healthcare Network CHN.(2007). History of euthanasia in Canada. Retrieved from
5. Euthanasia. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com:
