Medically Assisted Death Research Paper

Medically assisted death should be legal in Canada assuming that applicants meet the clearly stated guidelines and safeguards that have been put into play by the government. Not legalizing medically assisted death is impractical and a violation of several rights given to citizens of Canada, as stated in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Medically assisted death should be legal for three major reasons: All Canadian citizens have the right to life and liberty, as stated in s.7 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In connection with this fundamental right, all citizens must have the right to end their life before they lose the ability to do so as an effect of their condition. A second violation of The Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms caused by not legalizing medically assisted death in Canada is a violation of s.12 of The Charter, this section clearly states that: “Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.”. Finally, from an economic standpoint, it is clear that it is more expensive to continue to keep a patient alive in palliative care or using extraordinary measures. Legalizing medically assisted death in Canada is clearly the only choice if the world is ever to see all of our fundamental rights and freedoms being upheld as stated in the highest form of law in the country.

Medically assisted death in Canada must become legal because it is in violation of s.7 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter clearly 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.” Medically assisted death is in no way a violation of the principles of fundamental justice, so the charter right should be upheld, this right gives every Canadian citizen the right to life and in relation to this gives every citizen the right to find passage out of this world in whatever way they see fit to do so. Medically assisted death gives Canadians the opportunity to choose a safe way to end their lives while they are still capable of doing so themselves. An example of this violation in effect was the case “Lee Carter, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, et al., 2014 CanLII 1206 (SCC)”. This case was a lawsuit filed on behalf of Gloria Taylor, who had suffered from ALS and died of an infection caused by a perforated colon. The court wrote, “Section 7 is rooted in a deep respect for the value of human life. But s.7 also encompasses life, liberty and security of the person during the passage to death. It is for this reason that the sanctity of life “is no longer seen to require that all human life be preserved at all costs.”. This is a clear violation of the charter and that has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada due to the fact that it took away her right to dignity in her death, this shows that preserving life over all else is not only not the best way to handle terminal diseases, but also is in violation of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and must be legalized in order to give people the right to life as promised by The Charter. In relation to this violation medically assisted death being illegal is also a violation of section 15 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 15 states:”(1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”. The right states that every person is considered equal and you cannot discriminate against anyone for having a mental or physical disability and yet not upholding s.7 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the situation of medically assisted death for someone who has a disability or debilitating terminal disease is also a clear violation of the Equality Rights, all of which should be given to any Canadian citizen. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms must be held to the highest standard and reflect the quality of life in Canada, how can Canada claim to follow The Charter if it infringes on so many of the clearly stated rights?

A second reason as to why medically assisted death should be legalized in Canada is because from an economic standpoint it is considerably more cost effective to receive a medication that will end your pain than it is to remain in palliative care while you live out your remaining days of suffering. The government has invested a considerable amount of money into the palliative care system just to keep it up and running and to make it as comfortable as possible for those living in it. An example of just how much money is put into palliative care is that from 2004-2006 the government invested $800,000,000 in the Primary Health Care Transition Fund (PHCTF) in an attempt to improve the health care system in Canada. With the legalization of medically assisted death Canadian citizens and the Canadian government will save millions of dollars. The medication used in medically assisted death is considerably less expensive than how much the government spends on the health care system each year. The most expensive drug used is called Secobarbital and in its liquid form it costs between $3,000- $5,000 for a lethal dose, an even less expensive option developed by physicians in Washington this is a phenobarbital/chloral hydrate/morphine sulfate mix that creates a lethal effect similar to Seconal, this mixture must be prepared at a compounding pharmacy and will cost $450-$500 for a lethal dose. It is very clear that legalizing medically assisted death in Canada is cost efficient and will also keep people in the country if they decide that they want to apply for a medically assisted death. Currently in the event that a citizen of Canada is unable to receive a medically assisted death, they will often fly to Switzerland, where medically assisted death is legal to have the operation done there as opposed to their country of residence, this trip on average costs between $20,000-$30,000 taking into account flights and accommodations. Not only is this far too much money to pay just to be given what you deserve in accordance with The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but it is also money that is taken away from Canada's economy and given to another country. All of these statistics show how beneficial it would be to legalize medically assisted death in Canada, not only would it save the money of the Canadian citizens, and it will also mean that the Canadian government would not have to put as much money into palliative care programs, this of course is because so many of the patients that would usually be put in palliative care would instead apply for a physician-assisted death, thus ensuring the taxpayers money would be spent on better programs.

Finally, medically assisted death should be legal in Canada due to the fact that it being illegal is a direct violation of section 12 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Section 12 states: “Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.”. In the event that a Canadian citizen is suffering from a terminal illness with no outlook of survival and death in the foreseeable future, it is clear that they are suffering and in an excruciating amount of pain as they undergo a slow descent into death at the hand of their terminal illness. An example of this would be a cancer patient. After the treatment fails and cancer begins to spread uncontrollably the patient will experience several different kinds of pain that are unavoidable even with the help of strong medications. Examples of the different kinds of pain that a cancer patient has to endure as they die are as follows: Nerve pain, or neuropathic pain which can be described as burning,shooting or tingling pain caused by pressure on the nerves and spinal cord. Somatic pain or bone pain, this is caused by the cancer cells affecting the bones, this causes an aching or throbbing pain. Visceral pain or soft tissue pain caused by a body organ or muscle, often described as a sharp and throbbing pain or a cramping pain depending on what area is being affected. Phantom pain which is a pain in a part of the body that has been removed, this type of pain is often described as unbearable
and would be caused by losing an arm or leg to try to stop cancer from spreading to other parts of the body. The final type of cancer pain is called referred pain, this is usually caused by an organ in the body being affected by the treatment and applying pressure to the nerve ends of a separate part of the body. All of these different types of pain can be considered cruel and unusual punishment, and by being forced to live with this insufferable pain until you die of natural causes, it is a clear violation of section 12 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that would no longer be infringed upon if medically assisted death was legal in Canada.

All things considered, it is clear that medically assisted death should be legalized in Canada so that it stops so many violations of our basic human rights supposedly granted to us under The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Medically assisted death being illegal is in clear violation of s.7, s.15 and s.12, by not allowing citizens the right to live and a safe passage to death it violates our Right to Life and in relation to the violation of s.7 discriminating against those who have an incurable disease is a clear violation of s.15 and the Equality Rights.Also in connection with these other violation of our most basic rights not allowing medically assisted death to be legal infringes on s.12 of the charter by forcing Canadian citizens to endure insufferable types of pain such as;neuropathic pain, bone pain,visceral pain, phantom pain and referred pain with no escape except for the death that is prolonged without physician-assisted death. Finally, physician-assisted death must be legalized in order to save Canadian citizens and the Canadian government considerable amounts of money paid in taxes and divided all throughout the country's healthcare system. For all of these reasons medically assisted death should be legalized in Canada or else as a country, it cannot possibly claim to follow The Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.