AND THE SUE RODRGUEZ CASE IN CANADA
Thanks to my “Issues in Bioethics” Winter 2009 students for
this presentation. It has been slightly altered by teacher.
Euthanasia: “Good Death” (Greek), also “the intentional termination of life
by another at the explicit request of the person who dies." (2).
•passive: ceasing medical intervention sustaining a person’s life, thus
resulting in death. (ex: removal of life support or ending medical
procedures.)
•active: specific steps taken to end a person’s life. (ex: lethal injection)
Assisted Suicide (a.k.a: Physician Assisted Suicide):
• When information and/or means of terminating the patient’s life are
provided by a physician upon request, allowing the individual to
commit suicide at will. (ex: provision of a lethal dose of sleeping
pills, CO2 gas.)
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Assisted suicide is a criminal act in Canada
(punishable by up to 14 years in prison)
according to section 241 of the Criminal
Code
Most other countries have similar prohibitions
The state of Oregon in the United States, and
the Netherlands and Belgium being an
exception. (3)
Sue Rodriguez:
• diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS) in 1991. (progressive,
neurodegenerative disease - causes
weakening of muscles and eventual
atrophy (wasting away) of body parts. )
• advocate of the legal right to assisted
suicide and “dying with dignity”.
1.
•Went before the
Supreme Court of
Canada twice to fight
for her cause: the legal
right to assisted
suicide.
• progression of
physical disability and
deterioration until
death in 1994. (3
years after diagnosis.)
Image from the film “At the End of the Day”.
“I want to ask you gentlemen, if I cannot give consent
to my own death, then whose body is this? Who owns
my life?”
-Sue Rodriguez (in presentation to House of Common’s subcommittee,
Nov 1992).
Arguments by Rodriguez:
• People who wish to die but are not disabled can do so.
• But people who wish to die, yet are physically incapable of committing
suicide themselves, should be legally allowed to do so- with the
assistance of a doctor.
•Otherwise this would be discrimination.
Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that everyone
hs the right to “life, liberty and security of the person”
•If denied assisted suicide, Rodriguez argued, her rights of personal
liberty and autonomy under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms would
be violated.
Court’s decision:
• there is no Canadian “legal right to die”, and therefore, denying
Sue Rodriguez the legal right to assisted suicide does not violate
her Charter rights.
• emphasis upon the importance of society’s commitment to the
preservation of human life:
“Her illness may restrict the ability to implement her decisions (to commit
suicide) but in my opinion, that does not amount to an infringement of a
right to life, liberty or security of the person by the state.”-Justice Melvin.
• emphasis upon the protection of the vulnerable:
“Section 241[which denies assisted suicide] protects the innocent,
the mentally incompetent and the depressed,”
-Justice Allen Melvin.
Dec. 30, 1992:
The B.C Supreme Court voted 5-4 against Rodriguez’s case.
•closely divided vote viewed as representative of Canadian society’s
divided opinion and the ambiguity surrounding the moralistic implications
in the practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Works Cited
1.
No artist. “Sue Rodriguez fought the law prohibiting assisted suicide all the
way to the Supreme Court of Canada, but lost. (Canadian Press)” No date.
Online Image. Cbcnews.ca 18 February 2009.
<http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/02/09/f-assisted-suicide.html>
2.
No artist. No Date. Online Image. <http://wendy-crewsonfan.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/sue_rodriguez1.jpg>
3.
Robinson, B.A. “EUTHANASIA AND PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE:
INTRODUCTION” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 1997-2002.
<http://www.religioustolerance.org/euth1.html>
4.
“Assisted Suicide vs Euthanasia: the Right to Die” Associated Content:
Health and Wellness. 11 April 2006.
<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/26923/free_personal_wedding_w
ebsite.html?cat=5>
5.
Video: “B.C Court Refuses Rodriguez’s Plea”
<http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/rights_freedoms/topics/1135/>