Canada
court upholds law against doctor-assisted suicide
Laura
Klein Mullen at 1:42 PM ET October 10,
2013
[JURIST]
The Court of Appeal for British Columbia [official
website] on Thursday upheld[judgment]
Canada's law against doctor-assisted suicide. Justice Lynn Smith for the
Supreme Court of British Columbia had ruled [JURIST report] last
year that the provisions of Canada's Criminal Code unjustly violate the rights
to life, liberty and equality. She reasoned that physician-assisted suicide
could be executed if adequate safeguards were in place. In a split 2-1 decision,
the appeals court overturned the ruling of the lower court:
As
the law now stands, there does not appear to be an avenue for relief from a
generally sound law that has an extraordinary, even cruel, effect on a small
number of individuals. Such individual relief is often referred to as a
constitutional exemption. In the past that possibility existed in Canada. ...
At the least, a court of law, unencumbered by previous judicial direction,
accustomed to assessing issues of consent and influence, and with a perspective
outside the (often overstressed) health care regime, should in our view be
required to assess individual cases.
The
government of Canada had announced its intention to appeal last year's ruling [JURIST
report] in July 2012. The case will likely be heard next by the Supreme Court
of Canada.
Opinions
regarding the right to die [JURIST news
archive] have been sharply divided around the world. In May the Louisiana
legislature passed a bill [JURIST report]
strengthening the state's ban on euthanasia. Earlier that month Georgia Governor Nathan Deal [official
website] signed legislation banning assisted suicide[JURIST
report] in the state. In 2011 an India high court ruled passive euthanasia was permitted [JURIST
report] under certain circumstances, but rejected a petition for a mercy
killing. In 2010 a German court ruled that removing a patient from life support is not a
criminal offense [JURIST report] if the patient had previously
given consent. In 2009 the Italian president refused to sign [JURIST
report] a government decree stopping the euthanasia of comatose women because
it would violate the separation of power overturning a previous court ruling.
