Do you see a difference between the two cited examples....someone who has decided to refuse treatments that are keeping her alive and someone who a degenerative disease that is wanting to commit suicide....should a person's right to privacy allow for suicide? As another article on this points out, how do we know if the person dying has agreed to it or is this being used as a defense in what is actually murder?
Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Canadians support some form of legalized euthanasia.
Photograph by: John Moore, Getty Images, National Post
QUEBEC — After hearing medical, legal and other experts on the issue of dying
with dignity, a Quebec legislature committee plans to tour the province to hear
the views of Quebecers.
Participants will be asked their views on euthanasia, consenting to a lethal dose of medicine and assisted suicide, helping end the life of someone who wants to die.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under the Criminal Code, a federal statute that Quebec cannot change.
But the report notes Canadian courts have handed down "often light, even symbolic" sentences for euthanasia and assisted suicide.
As well, in British Columbia, after Sue Rodriguez, a woman suffering from ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, received help to commit suicide, the B.C. attorney general issued a directive calling for compassion in such cases.
And after Nancy B., a Quebec woman with an incurable degenerative disease, went to court to have a respirator keeping her alive turned off, Quebec amended its Civil Code to give patients the right to refuse treatment.
Interested groups and individuals have until July 16 to file their briefs, and the hearings are expected to start in August.
"I have every confidence that there's a rich vein of wisdom in the population, and we'll be able to tap into that," said committee chairman and member of provincial legislature Geoff Kelley.
The Netherlands and Luxembourg permit euthanasia and assisted suicide, while Belgium and two U.S. states, Oregon and Washington, allow assisted suicide only.
The committee will also look at palliative sedation, administering a drug to someone who is suffering to make them unconscious, and terminal sedation, used in dying patients.
Kelley and his co-chair, Parti Quebecois member of legislature Veronique Hivon, stressed that they have not drawn their conclusions yet.
The report says opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide fear a "slippery slope," that the criteria could change or be ignored, while some called for better palliative care.
Those in favour evoke autonomy and human dignity and say legalization would end the secretive termination of life.
Participants will be asked their views on euthanasia, consenting to a lethal dose of medicine and assisted suicide, helping end the life of someone who wants to die.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under the Criminal Code, a federal statute that Quebec cannot change.
But the report notes Canadian courts have handed down "often light, even symbolic" sentences for euthanasia and assisted suicide.
As well, in British Columbia, after Sue Rodriguez, a woman suffering from ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, received help to commit suicide, the B.C. attorney general issued a directive calling for compassion in such cases.
And after Nancy B., a Quebec woman with an incurable degenerative disease, went to court to have a respirator keeping her alive turned off, Quebec amended its Civil Code to give patients the right to refuse treatment.
Interested groups and individuals have until July 16 to file their briefs, and the hearings are expected to start in August.
"I have every confidence that there's a rich vein of wisdom in the population, and we'll be able to tap into that," said committee chairman and member of provincial legislature Geoff Kelley.
The Netherlands and Luxembourg permit euthanasia and assisted suicide, while Belgium and two U.S. states, Oregon and Washington, allow assisted suicide only.
The committee will also look at palliative sedation, administering a drug to someone who is suffering to make them unconscious, and terminal sedation, used in dying patients.
Kelley and his co-chair, Parti Quebecois member of legislature Veronique Hivon, stressed that they have not drawn their conclusions yet.
The report says opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide fear a "slippery slope," that the criteria could change or be ignored, while some called for better palliative care.
Those in favour evoke autonomy and human dignity and say legalization would end the secretive termination of life.
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