{"id":89333,"date":"2015-02-07T11:56:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T11:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=89333"},"modified":"2015-02-07T11:56:35","modified_gmt":"2015-02-07T11:56:35","slug":"canada-allow-doctor-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/02\/canada-allow-doctor-assisted-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada to allow doctor-assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that doctors may help patients who have severe and incurable medical conditions to die, overturning a 1993 ban.<\/p>\n
In a unanimous decision, the court said the law impinged on Canadians’ rights.<\/p>\n
The case was brought by a civil rights group on behalf of two women, Kay Carter and Gloria Taylor, with degenerative diseases. Both have since died.<\/p>\n
The government now has a year to rewrite its law on assisted suicide.<\/p>\n
If it does not, the current law will be struck down.<\/p>\n
Assisted suicide is legal in several European countries and a few US states.<\/p>\n
In Canada is it illegal to counsel, aid or abet a suicide, and the offence carries up to 14 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n James Gallagher, <\/strong>BBC H<\/strong>ealth editor<\/strong><\/p>\n Canada is not alone in grappling with the thorny issue of dying laws.<\/p>\n The debate was reignited in the United States last year by campaigner Brittany Maynard.<\/p>\n The 29-year-old was forced to travel from California, where the practice is illegal, to the Oregon where it has been legal since 1997. A legal case is now taking place in New York.<\/p>\n Some politicians in the UK are trying to introduce similar rules, but the government does not back it.<\/p>\n Switzerland allows “assisted suicide”. This does not require a terminal illness, but must be performed by a patient and has led to “suicide-tourism” across Europe.<\/p>\n There is a profound gulf between those who think assisted dying is a fundamental human right and those who have ethical objections and worry about the implications for the disabled and vulnerable.<\/p>\n There are no easy answers.<\/p>\n