Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide Case Study

A law plays a vital role in resolving the issue whether euthanasia and assisted suicide should be permitted or not. According to the book In Search of the Good, St. Thomas Aquinas defined law as “a reasonable decision promulgated by a competent authority for the common good”. Man created law based on moral principles. In order for a law to be reasonable, it has to treat everyone fairly and that public authorities should respect the fundamental rights of each individual. In Canada, mercy killing is punishable by law. Moreover, it is also a crime to assist a person to die. The Section 241 of the Criminal Code states that anyone who counsels a person to commit suicide, or aids a person to commit suicide is guilty of an indictable offense and liable

The issue of euthanasia and assisted suicide has become a national issue because of the case of Tracy Latimer and Sue Rodriguez. In the case of Tracy Latimer, she suffered from a severe form of cerebral palsy since birth. Being at the age of twelve, she had a mental capacity of a four-month-old baby. Robert Latimer decided to end his daughter’s life. The Crown prosecuted Latimer on the charge of murder in the first degree but a jury found him guilty of a lesser offense of murder in the second degree (Baum 2015). The Court stated that Tracy was having a serious illness but she was not in her final stage. Robert Latimer argued that his daughter’s life was not “worth living” (Baum 2015). Latimer used the defense of necessity. The defense of necessity is one created by the common law that will not hold individuals liable under the criminal law where they acted involuntarily. The court

This reason is not enough to act illegally. This case shows that killing a person in order to relieve the suffering is not an appropriate response especially that the person is mentally incapacitated. The court shows that they consider the equality rights of disabled under the Charter of Freedom and Rights. They have to be objective in evaluating the case because it is a matter of community standards infused with constitutional considerations. A different view is the case of Sue Rodriguez who requested for physician-assisted suicide. She had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which has no known cure. Rodriguez wanted to end her life when it comes to the point where she can no longer feel the quality of life. Committing suicide was not an issue since Canada had eliminated from the Criminal Code both the offense of suicide and attempted suicide (Baum 2015). The problem was that she might not be physically capable of doing so. She would need an assistance but this was not possible because of the Criminal Code, Section 241 that forbids anyone in helping a person to commit suicide. Rodriguez argued that not being able to end his life with the help of others denied her liberty and security that are under section 7 of the charter which