The purpose of the following document is to perpetuate the Supreme Court of Canada into legalizing assisted suicide.
In recent years, assisted suicide has become a highly controversial topic and has sparked many heated debates. The reason why assisted suicide is becoming so prominent right now is because of the aging baby boom generation who rapidly approaching last stage of life.
According to the oxford dictionary, assisted suicide is defined as “the suicide of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, effected by the taking of lethal drugs provided by a doctor for this purpose.” To rephrase this definition, assisted suicide relieves a suffering patient from a terminal illness by enabling …show more content…
them to die in an easeful manner as oppose to a long and excruciating death.
Assisted suicide should only be done when the following conditions are met:
The patient’s suffering is unbearable with no hope to improve
The patient's request for assisted suicide is voluntary and persists over time
The patient must be fully aware of his/her condition, prospects and options
The doctor or patient must carry out the death in a medically appropriate fashion, and the doctor must be present
Assisted suicide is currently legal in a few regions of the world, and unfortunately, Canada is not one of them.
A recent survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Dying with Dignity Canada revealed that 84% of Canadians agreed "a doctor should be able to help someone end their life if the person is a competent adult who is terminally ill, suffering unbearably and repeatedly asks for assistance to die.”
To commence, I would like to point out the importance of an individual’s freedom and liberty. Freedom and liberty are the two most fundamental rights every individual deserves, so essentially, so there must be an extremely persuasive purpose to supersede not having these rights. Assisted suicide is strongly linked to one’s personal rights and entitlements. It is evident that everyone is in control of his or her own life, therefore, in order to illustrate that assisted suicide should be legalized, I will highlight the fact that there is no reason for it to be perceived as an illegal …show more content…
act.
Historically, suicide has been deemed as a crime in most regions of the world, however, this has changed in recent decades. Precisely, in Canada, the legislation of decriminalizing suicide occurred in 1972. In a sense, legalizing suicide but not legalizing assisted suicide is setting a double standard and thus, very discriminatory towards terminally ill patients who do not have the physical ability to execute suicide on their own. Section 241 of the Canadian Criminal Code states:
241. Every one who
(a) counsels a person to commit suicide, or
(b) aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
Specifically looking at section 241 b., we can deduce that even if the terminally ill patient is begging to be aided with their suicide, no one is able to help them without facing a maximum of fourteen years in prison.
The Evelyn Martens’ case demonstrates the terrible inadequacy of our Canadian law on assisted suicide; she was prosecuted, over a period of two and a half years, for performing assisted suicide. Throughout that period of time she faced with a 28-year prison sentence (14 for each offense). In 1993 Sue Rodriguez who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease appealed for legal sanction in order to get assistance, however, the Supreme Court of Canada denied her appeal by a vote of 5 to 4. Although the members of the Justices recognized that their decision was discriminatory in that suicide is possible for ones who are only physical capable, but not so for the disabled, the Justices who voted against her feared that the public danger of allowing assisted suicide outweighed the discrimination. Having the restriction of not allowing assisted suicide results in terminally ill patients finding it necessary to end their lives sooner than they would prefer to as they must kill themselves, while they are still physically able to do so. Recognizing that suicide itself is legal should mean that one who assists suicide should not be
prosecuted.
The fact that assisted suicide is illegal is not only extremely discriminatory towards terminally ill patients, but it contradicts the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Precisely, in Section Seven, it states: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.” This section is perhaps the utmost fundamental right of all given rights: we know that each individual has a right to decide the course of his or her own life, and that death is a part of life. Therefore, according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, individuals, no matter what state they’re in should have the fundamental right to decide how they wish to continue or end their life.
Further, from a financial standpoint, legalizing assisted suicide is crucial. Patients may feel like they are being kept alive for no reason, as they are not able to live life to its full potential because of the numerous restrictions created from their illness. Matthew Donnelly exemplifies this fact. Matthew suffered from skin cancer, which was essentially deteriorating his body: he had lost his nose, his left hand, two fingers on his right hand, and part of his jaw. He was left blind and his illness was progressively taking over his entire body. Doctors estimated that he had one year to live. Lying in bed with teeth clenched from the excruciating pain, he pleaded to be put out of his misery. The legalization of assisted suicide would not only permit the patient to be released from the unbearable pain that they’re enduring, but it would give them the peace of mind that they are no longer being kept alive for absolutely no reason. Cite your sources here. Medical treatments are very expensive. Not only do these pricey treatments add pressure to a patient’s family, as they may be unable to afford the treatments, but the patient might feel like a burden on his or her family. Treatments, such as life-support to patients who have absolutely no hope of being cured can be replaced by a one-time lethal substance authorized by the patient, automatically removing all costs associated with ineffective medical treatments.
One counterargument that frequently comes up when discussing the legalization of assisted suicide is the “slippery slope” argument, asserting that if assisted suicide does become legal people may abuse it. People who oppose the legalization of assisted suicide declare that if it does become legal, unqualified patients will be given the option of assisted suicide. Personally, I do not find this argument compelling at all, as there are current regions, such as the Netherlands or Oregan, United States that have legalized assisted suicide who believe that no one will take advantage of this right and as of yet, no one has taken advantage of this right.
There is currently one Canadian province, Quebec that is in the midst of legalizing assisted suicide, Bill 52, an Act respecting end-of-life care has been put in place. Although this is a step towards a better future, it is still not enough. I strongly believe that assisted suicide should be a fundamental right as it is directly linked with freedom and liberty. It is crucial for the Supreme Court of Canada to legalize assisted, in support individual liberty interests.