Running head: ASSISTED SUICIDE

Physician Assisted Suicide in Canada

Steve Iduye BN, MHI.
Dalhousie University

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Assisted suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself while being assisted by
someone who has the knowledge and is providing the means. Euthanasia and assisted suicide
have a difference. Euthanasia is a deliberate action that is taken by one person with the aim of
ending the life of another person to relieve the person from pain and suffering. An example can
be if a doctor prescribes barbiturates to a patient with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
The patient then uses this drug to kill himself or herself.
In the case study, Miss. T.A has been suffering for more than twenty years. Her health
develops to become hopeless each day due to the complications she experiences. She asked her
doctor to give her ant type of medication that could assist her die because she cannot bear the
pain any longer. However, the Supreme Court overturns a legal ban on the doctor assisted
suicide. This paper will majorly look at why or why not the court should take such a decision and
the paper will also focus on the different advantages and disadvantages of passing such a law in
Canada.
Assisted suicide was an offense in Canada under the 241 of the Canada Criminal Court.
The ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide are untainted before the eyes of the public. This
topic has taken the concern of the media. The question arises, is it wrong or right to have assisted
suicide? This paper will mainly focus on the ethics that are associated with the assisted suicide
and try to argue whether it is right or wrong.

Discussion
The dramatic and rapid development in technology and medicine has given people the
power to save more lives than it could be done before. Medicine has given the power to cure or

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reduce the pain in the patients. However, medical technology has also given the power to sustain
lives of some patients whose mental and physical capabilities, degenerating conditions and pain
cannot be restored or eliminated. As the medicine tries to help people live longer, the plea that
deteriorated and torture lives should be brought to an end mercifully. Different countries such as
Canada and California are being asked to support some initiatives that could allow the doctors to
end the lives of terminally ill patients upon the quest of the patient.
Under the current law, committing suicide is not a crime. However assisting in the
suicide is a crime. Whether the society passes laws to sanction assisted suicide has brought about
a moral controversy.
Those who support legalizing assisted suicide claim all people have a right to choose
freely what they want to do with their lives as long as their activities do not inflict harm on the
others. This right of choosing freely should, therefore, include the right to end ones life. This
right can easily be exercised by most people. There are many people who want to die, but the
conditions that they are in makes them unable to end their lives in a manner that is dignified.
When this type of individuals seeks for help in exercising their right, their wishes should be
respected and granted (Friedman, 2012).
Moreover, we have the obligation to relieve the suffering of other human beings. The
dignities of other human beings should also be respected. Currently, lying in the hospitals are
people that have been afflicted with painful and terminal diseases and conditions. These diseases
have left the sick permanently unable to function in any dignified human fashion. They wake up
each day looking forward to a life that if full of pain and suffering. When such people ask for a

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merciful end to their dignity and pain, it is inhumane and cruel to refuse their wishes.
Compassion requires that we comply and cooperate.
Those who refuse the measure of allowing the assisted suicide argue that society has the
moral obligation to preserve and protect life. Many faith groups have the belief that human
suffering can have a positive value for the caregivers and the terminally ill patients. According to
them, suffering can be a divinely appointed opportunity for purification or learning. One Roman
Catholic document mentioned that some Christian avoid the use of painkiller so as to accept a
part of their suffering voluntarily and associate themselves in a conscious way. This is only a
meaningful suggestion to the believers. This type of believes might not apply to everybody
especially the other people who do not believe in the Catholic Church. Therefore, the assisted
suicide should be legalized for people to choose what they want to do with their lives.
Some people argue that the pain that the terminally ill people undergo can be reduced by
to tolerable levels by being properly managed. These people conclude that there is no need for
the assisted suicide. However, some people do not access the adequate pain management.
Millions of people are without the health coverage. Doctors withhold levels of pain killers
because of the concern that their patients may end up being addicted to the drugs.
In addition, some people argue that by passing the assisted suicide law as legal, some
people may be pressured into accepting the assisted suicide by their family members. This
pressure may take place in suitable forms. This argument is important. There should be strict
controls that could ensure that a patient is not being influenced by the others. Some people feel
that the interference is so serious that the assisted suicide should totally be banned (Scherer,
2007).

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In an age when the medical funding is restricted, the question arises whether it is ethical
to engage in extremely expensive treatment of the ill people so as to extend their lives if it is
against their will. The money that is used to extend their lives could have been used for infant
and prenatal care. This money could be used to save lives and improve the quality of life of the
other people instead of being used on the patient.
There is a significant and growing percentage of atheists, humanists and liberal
Christians. Such groups do not accept the theologically argument, as it is against the will of God
to take away another persons life. To these people, each and every person has a moral right to
his or her life. Persons whose quality of life does not exist should have the right to decide to
commit suicide and to ask for assistance if necessary so as to achieve this. They also believe that
an illness can be so painful at times that it makes life unbearable burden. Death can be an
alternative to relief the intolerable pain.
These individuals that oppose the measures of permitting assisted suicide argue that the
society has a moral duty to preserve and protect life. Allowing people to assist others in
destroying their lives violates the fundamental duty of the society to respect the human rights.
Therefore, a society that is committed to protecting and preserving life should not commission
people to destroying it (Balkin, 2005).
According to religion, there are two main arguments that are put forward to oppose
assisted suicide. They advise against the seeking of individual suicide.one of the reason they give
is that life is the gift given from God to the human beings. Each person is a steward of his or her
body. Therefore, only God is in a position to start life and should be the only one allowed to take
life from a person. An individual who commits suicide therefore sins according to the Bible. The

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second argument put forward is that God does not send any experience that human beings cannot
handle. The Christians claim that God supports people during the time of suffering. Therefore, if
one does not seek help from God during the time of suffering, then that person lacks trust in
GOD.
The above argument is true to the Christians when the view the idea of assisted suicide.
However, the world is a composition of both The Christians and the non-Christians. As much as
this argument may be supported by the Christians it will be unfair to the non-Christians to
believe in the same issue.
In addition, other opponents of the assisted suicide claim that the society has a duty to
legislation that may pose a threat to the lives of innocent persons. Laws that will allow for
assisted suicide will automatically pose a threat to the human life. If assisted suicide is legalized
on the basis of compassion and mercy, what will keep people from actively urging or assisting
the death of anyone whose life had been viewed as being worthless? There will be nothing to
keep the inconvenienced relatives from persuading the person to ask for assisted suicide
(Humphry, 1991). This will be like devaluing other peoples lives and once one person life has
been devalued it means that all the lives have been devalued. Nobody will be there to speak up
for the infants and the handicapped in the society.
Finally, it is also argued that sanctioning assisted suicide could also mean violating the
rights of other people in the society. The nurses and the doctors might find themselves pressured
to cooperate in a patient suicide. So as to satisfy the desires of the patients who want the assisted
suicide. It will be unjust to force others into acting against their deeply held convictions.

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The case of assisted suicide is a very powerful case. The case appeals to our capacity to
the society for compassion and an obligation to accept and appreciate the decisions that the
individuals have made and the self-determination. The case against assisted suicide is also very
powerful it speaks for us the fundamental reverence for life and the risk of hauling down towards
a declined respect for life. With the legislation in the offing, the Canadians might be compelled
to choose the values that are most important and cast their votes.

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References
Balkin, K. (2005). Assisted suicide. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Humphry, D. (1991). Final exit: The practicalities of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for
the dying. Eugene, Or.: Hemlock Society.
Scherer, L. S. (2007). Assisted suicide. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Friedman, M. D. (2012). Assisted suicide. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library.