Category: Canada
Cardinal Thomas Collins: Don’t force physicians to act against their conscience
As Canada develops its assisted dying legislation, we should be careful to protect health care workers’ right to follow their conscience
Toronto Star
“Contemplating Suicide? We Can Help!” There was a time when such an advertisement pointed to a crisis line, where someone was standing by to counsel you and offer hope in a situation of intolerable pain.
We are in a very different time, now. In a few short months, assisted suicide, its grim reality hidden behind blandly deceptive terms like “medical assistance in dying,” will be declared an acceptable option in our country, enshrined in law. As the federal government prepares legislation to implement the Supreme Court’s decision, it is crucial to consider the effects of this fundamental change in our laws.
Death comes to us all – sometimes suddenly, and sometimes slowly. Although patients benefit from medication that controls pain, they are fully justified in refusing burdensome and disproportionate treatment that serves only to prolong the inevitable process of dying. But dying is simply not the same as being killed. We are grateful for physicians and nurses and others who offer medical assistance to patients who are dying, but it is never justified for them to kill a patient. . .[Full text]
ALS sufferer first Canadian to receive judge’s approval for assisted death
The Globe and Mail
A woman suffering from the paralyzing degenerative disease known as ALS has become the first to receive a judicially authorized assisted death in Canada.
The woman received permission from a Calgary judge in a hearing last week from which the media and other members of the public were barred. Known as Ms. S in a ruling made public this week, she then travelled to Vancouver where two physicians attended to her on private property.
Ellen Wiebe, a Vancouver physician, confirmed the death Monday night, saying she was with Ms. S. and pronounced her dead at 8:30.
Ms. S. “suffered unnecessarily because she was required to travel from Calgary to Vancouver on the last day of her life, since she could not find a Calgary physician to help her,” she said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail.
Ms. S, a retired psychologist who loved hiking in the mountains, was diagnosed with the incurable disease in 2013 after developing a speech impediment, and was told last October that nothing more could be done to slow its progress. . . . [Full text]
Canadian undergoes doctor-assisted death in B.C.
CTV News
1 March, 2016
A Calgary woman who was granted a legal exemption for doctor-assisted death has ended her life in British Columbia with the help of a physician.
The woman, who cannot be identified because of a court-ordered publication ban, suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
She died on Monday, with her family at her side, in Vancouver. . . [Full text]
Calgary woman dies after being granted right to physician-assisted suicide
Right to die: ‘We were grateful and honoured to be able to help her,’ says doctor
CBC News
A Calgary woman who received a legal exemption for doctor-assisted death has ended her life in Vancouver with the help of two physicians.
It is believed she is the first person in Canada outside of Quebec to be allowed to legally end her life with help from a doctor.
The woman, who cannot be identified because of a court-ordered publication ban, died with her family at her side.
“My colleague and I were grateful and honoured to be able to help her,” Dr. W, a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press. The doctor also cannot be ID’d due to the publication ban. . . [Full text]