The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down the ban on physician-assisted suicide in a unanimous ruling Friday.
“An individual’s choice about the end of her life is entitled to respect,” the ruling stated. Physician-assisted suicide is now applicable in cases where the patient is a competent adult with grievous and incurable medical condition that causes them intolerable suffering.
The judges said the current prohibition in the Criminal Code infringes on the provisions of life, liberty and security in Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Canada’s highest court put its decision on hold for 12 months to give the federal government time to craft new legislation. The ban on assisted suicide will be in effect until then.
“For seriously and incurably ill Canadians, the brave people who worked side by side with us for so many years on this case …this decision will mean everything to them,” said Grace Pastine, the litigation director for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
The court made it clear that physicians will not be obligated to assist those who want to die.
The court also said that a substantial concern of the law, when it comes to physician-assisted suicide, is that a vulnerable patient could take his or her life in a moment of weakness. Regarding this concern, the court stated “a permissive regime with properly designed and administered safeguards was capable of protecting vulnerable people from abuse and error.”
Two B.C. women suffering from degenerative diseases, Kay Carter and Gloria Taylor, brought the case to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which then launched the landmark case in 2011. Lee Carter continued to fight for the ban to be lifted after her mother travelled to Switzerland for physician-assisted suicide and Taylor died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
“Justice, liberty and compassion were defining qualities of my mother,” said Carter told reporters today. “This ruling now extends those same elements to individuals seeking a humane and dignified death in this country.”
The ruling comes 21 years after the similar case of Sue Rodriguez, a woman who suffered from ALS disease, who sought to end her own life and wanted to have the ban on assisted suicide ruled unconstitutional. The court ruled against her then.