Medical assistance in dying (MAID) involves intentionally ending one’s life with the assistance of a medical doctor. For some individuals, especially those suffering from terminal illnesses, choosing when to die could be very important: for example, persons could choose to end life with dignity, … [Read more...]
Medical Assistance in Dying: An Enormous Change in Canadian Social Policy
Now, the focus will shift to the provinces.On June 17, 2016, Canada passed Bill C-14, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code, to enable citizens to access medical assistance in dying. Canada now joins a small group of countries and U.S. states that give their citizens such an option. It came about … [Read more...]
Critiques of Assisted Suicide
A terminal illness is any disease that curtails life even for a day. - Jack Kevorkian, National Press Club in 1992 Introduction The Carter decision of the Supreme Court of Canada appears to have been generally well received by most Canadians. Yet the decision and new implementing legislation … [Read more...]
Global Perspective: A cross-jurisdictional look at medical assistance in dying
On February 6th 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered the landmark decision of Carter v Canada (Attorney General) 2015 SCC 5, [2015] 1 SCR 331. The Court unanimously ruled to overturn the legal ban on medical assistance in dying in Canada. The Court declared that sections 14 and 241 of the … [Read more...]
Medically Assisted Death Offers Options
In 2015 the Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision in the case of a B.C. woman who wanted the right to be able to determine the timing and circumstances of her own death; what was termed at the time “doctor-assisted suicide”, and what has now become referred to as medical assistance in dying or … [Read more...]
