Canadian Bill C-14 has gone to the Senate which has amended it to include the following:
Toronto Star, June 9, 2016 - Liberal government concerned about new amendment on assisted dying: The new Senate amendment would expand the right to medically assisted death for those with non-terminal illnesses.
Quote:
It deletes the requirement that only those whose natural death is “reasonably foreseeable” should be eligible to seek medical help to end their lives. And it replaces the bill’s restrictive eligibility standard with the more permissive criteria set out in last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the ban on medically assisted dying.
Quote:
Health Minister Jane Philpott said she’s personally concerned that the amendment would mean people suffering strictly from mental illnesses would be eligible for assisted dying.
Toronto Star, Feb. 6, 2015 - Supreme Court strikes down assisted suicide ban: Canada’s highest court has struck down the law against assisted suicide and in a unanimous ruling.Quote:
In the 9-0 judgment, the court declared the Criminal Code’s absolute ban on assisted suicide goes too far. Its attempt to protect the lives of “vulnerable people” also prevents competent, consenting adults suffering “grievous and irremediable medical conditions” from making core decisions about how they live and die, and so breaches three of the most basic rights: to life, liberty and security of the person, all enshrined in Sec. 7 of the Charter, and is not justified in a free democratic society.
Quote:
The ruling is not limited to disabled individuals who are unable to kill themselves unaided, nor to cases of terminal illness or people near death. Instead, the ruling applies broadly in cases of a major illness, disease or disability that inflicts intolerable physical or psychological suffering on a patient.
If the Bill were to pass as amended than it could be legal to seek out assisted dying for mental illness in Canada.
I'm not sure what I think of this. As a mentally ill person, my mind wanders to the question of my life's worth. Is my suffering grievous and irremediable? Is it reasonable for me to want to seek out an end to my life?
12 Jun 2016, 9:15 am
