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Dying With Dignity (DWD)

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To provide more light on to the issues with the probation of assisted suicide, an intervenor called Dying with Dignity (DWD) takes the stance with the trial judge and believes in the right to have assisted deaths legalized within Canada. They wish to have it apart of the health care system, but emphasizes, just like Smith, that there must be safeguards that are meticulously enforced and reviewed. They have five submissions that expresses their thoughts and position within the decisions and thoughts behind the SCC Carter case: 1) they believe that the right to life also includes the right to die with dignity. Life should be interpreted broadly and that should also include how it ends. DWD argue that by placing a ban on assisted suicide determines …show more content…

Mill is correct to say that everyone should have the right to their own choices, regardless of how it may affect themselves. So long as it does not determent the legal obligations one has for others, an activity such as choosing one’s own course of death would not have a direct effect on those around them. In addition, the entirety of having a criminal prohibition on physician assisted deaths is unlawful under the Charter. It is far more inhumane to allow one to be put through pain and agony rather than the peaceful and painless death through other methods. This prohibition essentially tells others how to live the end scope of their lives, which takes away that individual’s right to their own life without any interference from the state. The reasoning from both Smith and the Supreme Court’s decisions are fair and understands the severity of the violations of s.7 and s.15 of the Charter from s.14 and s.241 (b) in the Criminal Code, which places citizens such as Taylor into impossible scenarios where they are forced to choose between two unfavourable deaths. It has been two decades since the case of Rodriguez, and while it is unfortunate that an exception was not made for her, circumstances have now changed. There are new jurisdictions within the world that allow for assisted suicide and they have proven that such a system can work, while still achieving the government’s goal of limiting and protecting those who are vulnerable to coercion and influence. It is strange that Canada, which prides itself for its rights and freedoms, restricts the biggest right of all: of controlling one’s own death. The Canadian government must use the 12 months of suspension given by the Supreme Court of Canada to begin to create a balance

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In the book Assisted Suicide in Canada: Moral, Legal, and Policy Considerations by Travis Dumsday, a counter argument to the legal precedent for medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada is constructed. The main approach Dumsday makes to substantiate his stance is exhibiting the moral and ethical controversy that MAID creates in Canda, and how the Legality of MAID should be overturned. Several types of avenues of data and methodologies are used in the book to support Dumsday’s anti-MAID arguments. Firstly, they develop the historical context of MAID in Canada and attempt to express errors in the original Carter V. Canda supreme court case and how flawed logic and immoral practices corrupted the case, which has led to the expansion of Medically assisted euthanasia in Canada. The author then begins an explanation of the morality and ethical quandary he feels about MAID and how morality should point toward if not a cessation of MAID that a governmental decision to not fund the program.

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The appellant, Sue Rodriguez, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Under this condition, Sue will lose the ability to swallow, speak, walk, and move her body without assistance. As a result, she will eventually become confined to a bed. With a life expectancy between 2 and 14 months, Sue wishes to end her life on her own will when her condition becomes too painful to bear. This can be accomplished with the assistance of a qualified physician.

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The case of Carter vs. Canada is one of triumph for Canadians to question their civil liberties and constitutional privileges to an extent that had not been experienced in the courts history. The decision to abandon the previous law restricting the practice of doctor assisted suicide was justified by the court in the context of those with severe illness as well as a mental disability, in which prohibits their overall wellness. In regards to Life, liberty and security, it comes to a progressive conclusion that both the Supreme Court of Canada and Tina Carter both unilaterally agree that Canadians who are suffering unbearably at the end of life should have the right to choose a dignified and peaceful death. To explicitly regard the constitutional legitimacy of physician-assisted suicide within the charter of rights general limitations, the law currently contradicts the charter.

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The Doctrine of Doing & Allowing essentially outlines a lens that aids in drawing a distinction between doing something to cause the outcome, or allowing something that leads to an identical outcome. In this particular case, the Doctrine of Doing & Allowing aided the supreme court in rejecting the claim made by this case as a parallel can be found between a patient requesting assisted suicide through lethal medical treatment and a patient refusing to be put on a medical treatment such as life-support or some other form of treatment that the profession utilizes to prolong the process of death. (Vacco v. Quill, p. 423). J.J. Thomson’s concerns with the Doctrine of Doing & Allowing are quite complicated as he attempts to dig a bit deeper into the revised version that had been altered to incorporate both killing, allowing or letting die, “active euthanasia and passive euthanasia” (Thomson, pg. 500).

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Although care options for terminally ill patients are very limited, it is up to the patient and their loved ones to make it their priority to decide which care option is best. While assisted suicide has often came up for debate for the best option with the least amount of pain and suffering, Wesley Smith believes otherwise and has a very different opinion. He believes in giving terminally ill patients the best options that could have less suffering and prolong their life for many more years. He goes up to debate with Arthur Caplan who states that aid in dying should be considered and become a legal practice. Smith goes against Caplan’s argument by stating “we can validly criticize those who, for whatever reason, make it easier or acceptable

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The dying patient no longer has quality of life, they have lost their independence, are lonely, are forced to endure inevitable pain, are publicly humiliated, are suffering immensely, and are forced to watch their loved ones grieve because of them. It is an innate Constitutional Right to choose how to die, since we all will die. There comes a point when the poking and prodding becomes too much, when the patient wants to just die in silence in the loving arms of their

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Assisted suicide is a rather controversial issue in contemporary society. When a terminally ill patient formally requests to be euthanized by a board certified physician, an ethical dilemma arises. Can someone ethically end the life of another human being, even if the patient will die in less than six months? Unlike traditional suicide, euthanasia included multiple individuals including the patient, doctor, and witnesses, where each party involved has a set of legal responsibilities. In order to understand this quandary and eventually reach a conclusion, each party involved must have their responsibilities analyzed and the underlying guidelines of moral ethics must be investigated.

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In society today, there is a huge debate whether assisted suicide should be legal or illegal. If an individual is suffering and living a poor quality of life due to a medical issue, than the doctors could give them a needle that contains a serum that will put them to rest peacefully. In Canada it is legal as of June 2016 for a physician to assist with assisted suicide. Giving the choice for individuals to live or die can be seen as an act of kindness considering it is letting the individuals choose what's best for their quality of life. “...Now is the time for simplicity.

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The Death with Dignity Act has two arguments: those who believe we have the right to choose how and when we die, and those who believe we do not possess that right; that we should not interfere with the natural order of life. Every year, people across America are diagnosed with a terminal illness. For some people there is time: time to hope for a cure, time to fight the disease, time to pray for a miracle. For others however, there is very little or no time. For these patients, their death is rapidly approaching and for the vast majority of them, it will be a slow and agonizing experience.

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In the Carter case, it was stated that the prohibition on assisted suicide must remain in the Criminal Code in order to protect vulnerable people being induced to commit suicide. It can be very hard to identify who is vulnerable and who is not. Autonomy is important in decision making. Vulnerable people may have their autonomy interfered by external sources causing the choice of assisted suicide to not actually be their real choice. This causes issues in the process of assisted suicide.

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Some may say that people are going to abuse euthanasia and should value their lives better. In the article, “Medical assistance in dying” states, “Allowing "the state to kill will cheapen the value of human life" and as such, it decided that even those who have terminal illnesses cannot be allowed to make a conscious choice of death over life by seeking to control how and when they want to die.” This article is disagreeing with the concept of euthanasian because it is making life not as valuable as it was before. In the article, “Medical assistance in dying” states, ““Allowing doctors to lawfully participate in taking life would be contrary to this responsibility, because it would "send a strong signal that there are circumstances in which the state approves of suicide. " This court is making the statement that allowing for euthanasian can be viewed as allowing suicide.

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Denying people of being in control of their life violates our basic rights as humans. In a court case in Canada, the supreme court declared that “the criminal law measures prohibiting the provision of assistance in dying unconstitutional.” (Palmer 191). Canada is a large country and they believed that the blanket ban they had violated the rights people are guaranteed in their constitution. They are right.

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