Supreme Court of Canada Strikes Down Doctor Assisted Suicide Laws

On Friday February 6th, Canada’s high court has struck down the country’s laws against physician-assisted suicide which means it will no longer be against the law for a doctor to help someone who is ill and suffering to end their life – but the ban won’t be lifted for another year.
In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the Criminal Code laws prohibiting physician-assisted death infringes Section 7 of the Charter, which states that everyone has right to life, liberty and security of the person. The historic ruling opens the door to physician-assisted suicide for consenting, severely ill adults who want to control the method, timing and circumstances of their death.
The court laid out several specific conditions for physician-assisted death:
– The person must be a competent adult who clearly consents to the termination of life;
– The person must have a “grievous and irremediable” medical condition, which includes an illness, disease or disability;
– The medical condition must cause “endless suffering” that is intolerable to the person, although that suffering can be physical or psychological.
The right-to-die debate has been one of the most tempestuous ethical clashes of the past quarter-century in Canada. It tests core human values, from the sanctity of life and protecting society’s most vulnerable to individual dignity and free will. The little common ground that exists between sides is that wilful death, assisted or not, reminds society of life’s difficulties, injustices and limitations. Dying with Dignity Canada applauded the ruling.
“We’re deeply heartened by the court’s compassion towards those who suffer unbearably or face the prospect of a horrific death,” said Dying with Dignity Canada CEO, Wanda Morris. “This is a fantastic victory, and today we rejoice with the 84 per cent of Canadians who support the right to compassion and choice at end of life.”
“In our work, we field hundreds of calls every year from individuals who face the prospect of great suffering,” Morris said. “How wonderful is it that they may soon face that prospect with equanimity. They will know that, if worst comes to the worst, our medical system will not abandon them, but rather offer them choice.”
The occasion, Morris noted, is also bittersweet because of the scale of tragedy and loss advocates for end-of-life choice have endured along the way.
“My thoughts turn to people for whom the decision came too late, men and women with conditions like Huntington’s disease and ALS who ended their lives violently and prematurely because they feared their final wishes wouldn’t be carried out,” she said.
Assisted suicide has remained a crime in Canada since 1892, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
This ruling stems from the appeal of a 2012 lower court ruling launched on behalf of two British Columbia women with debilitating and terminal illnesses, Gloria Taylor and Kay Carter, both have since passed away.
The high court suspended this historic declaration for 12 months in order to give the federal and provincial governments time to respond and, should they choose, to launch legislative efforts to craft a regulatory framework for physician-assisted suicide. In the meantime, it will remain a crime to aid or abet a suicide.