Sheila Noyes rejoices in Supreme Court ruling on assisted dying

Superior Morning9:38"Just and Right" Decision - Sheila Dunn Noyes

For 27 years, Sheila Dunn Noyes has been fighting for the right of people to "Die With Dignity" She says Friday's Supreme Court ruling on medically assisted death is proper.For Sheila Noyes of Thunder Bay, there was a sense of relief and victory when the Supreme Court ruling on doctor assisted dying came down on Friday.

There is no virtue in suffering- Thunder Bay's Sheila Noyes

"When we were alone," Noyes said, "she gave me a signal she wanted me to help her die."

At the same time, Noyes' younger sister was dying of breast cancer which had metastasized to her spine.

"I promised my sister before she died, I promised her I would never stop until the laws changed," Noyes recalled.

She said if the Supreme Court ruling had been in place when her mother and sister were ill, they could have decided about their own death journeys.

"Both women could have peace. There is no virtue in suffering."

For people won't don't support the Supreme Court ruling, Noyes points to scientific studies done over 20 years, based on information in the Netherlands and Oregon, where assisted dying is legal.

She said it's evident safeguards work and the vulnerable are protected.

"We're talking about a competent person making a choice about their death. Don't access this choice if you don't want, but stay away from my death bed," Noyes said.

Noyes is currently battling an aggressive form of cancer. She said she wants to live, but if something changes she knows she now has a choice about how and when she dies.

Protecting the vulnerable

Meanwhile, a Thunder Bay man with a disability says he hopes the government will protect vulnerable citizens,  now that the Supreme Court has legalized assisted suicide.

Dave Shannon is a lawyer who has spoken on this issue. He is also a quadriplegic.

Shannon said doctors often ask people who've acquired serious injuries about their desires for end of life care —  and that can be hard on a person who's feeling vulnerable.

"When that question is posed, when there is no sensitive or advocacy in place, it's very easy to feel some pressure to go along with it," he said.

Laws aimed at protecting the vulnerable need to be backed with plenty of funding, Shannon noted, and that would ensure staff are in place at services such as Legal Aid to help people stand up for their rights.

"What we're looking to in the next 12 months is what will be the next administrative body to protect the weak while still allowing their best interests and charter principles to apply," he said.

"In Ontario right now, that is the Consent and Capacity Board. So I expect there will be new work for that tribunal in the near future. It's also going to be very important for these individuals to always have access to legal representation, to ethicists, to a counterbalance ... that is much broader ... to review and protect their rights in order to avoid coercion."

Shannon said that he looks forward to assisted being the rare exception.

"I had a spinal cord injury 33 years ago and I have faced the option of potentially assisted suicide, and I rejected that," he said.

"I have many dear friends who are quadriplegics, all of whom live full and happy, thrilling lives, and they reject the notion of assisted suicide, but have, however, felt subtle coercion in times of medical crisis."

He said that coercion is "is prevalent in society, and I do worry about this going too far as to become normative, and moving from normative to coercive. That will remain to be seen, and we have a Supreme Court decision with 12 months to develop a law that will protect vulnerable people."