What do you think of the government's proposed law on assisted death?
In February, 2015 the Supreme Court struck down the law that prevented people from seeking medical help to die. Following that ruling, the government was given a period of grace to create a new law — one that would be a matter of great concern and sensitivity to all Canadians. The legislation would allow those facing a certain but unpleasant death, or suffering from unremitting pain, to be assisted by a physician to end their lives.
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It's a controversial idea. Some feel that doctors are sworn to do all to keep people alive, not to help them die. Others feel it is only humane to allow doctors — who care for people when they are ill — to help them die when the suffering patients have had enough.
The Liberal government has just introduced a bill with rules on how physicians can help end the lives of terminally ill patients. Many of the controversial features were absent, leading advocates of assisted dying to say the bill does not go far enough. Or, perhaps you feel it goes too far? But remember the Supreme Court was clear that the option of assisted death is now a constitutional right. The question becomes where does that right begin and end.
Our question: What do you think of the government's proposed law on assisted dying?
GUESTS
Jennifer Gibson is director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, and co-chair of the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying.
James Downar is a physician at the University Health Network in Toronto, and an advisor to the group, Dying with Dignity.
Sheila Harding is a haemotologist, and is a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan.
Jeff Blackmer is a physician, and is vice president for medical professionalism at the Canadian Medical Association. He has also been the interim director of ethics for the World Medical Association in Geneva.
LINKS AND ARTICLES
CBC.ca
- Doctor-assisted dying bill restricted to adults facing 'foreseeable' death
- Doctor-assisted death obtained by Sherbrooke man who starved himself to qualify
- Deciding on assisted death in context of mental illness highly complex, experts say
- Assisted death bill won't allow 'suicide tourism'
- Liberals onside with public opinion on doctor-assisted dying legislation
- Robert-Falcon Ouellette questions impact of doctor-assisted dying on Canada's Indigenous Peoples
- Vulnerable Canadians 'at risk of being encouraged to seek an assisted death,' panel hears
- Canadian Medical Association still polarized by doctor-assisted deaths
- Physician-assisted death law needs to set out clear rules, CMA says
- The Current: How Canadians grapple with death
National Post
- Ottawa introduces long-awaited law on assisted dying, spelling out how seriously ill may end lives
- Does Canada's new assisted death bill get it right?
- Six questions about physician-assisted death, from a conscientious objector, by Ewan C. Goligher
- Majority rejects assisted suicide for mentally ill, poll finds
- Majority of doctors opposed to participating in assisted death of patients: CMA survey
- The new assisted dying law is a very slippery slope, by Kelly McParland
Globe and Mail
- Liberals table controversial assisted death bill
- Risk-averse assisted-death law fails Canadians who are suffering, by André Picard
- Physician-assisted dying: the five stages that brought us to this point
- The heart of dying: A personal journey, by Sandra Martin
- Assisted-dying bill lacks clear criteria for qualifying conditions, critics say
- Assisted-dying law will be just the first step on a difficult road, by Harvey Max Chochinov
Maclean's
Toronto Star
- 77% of Canadians support assisted suicide, poll shows
- Assisted-dying legislation fuels criticism and confusion from many sides