Euthanasia In Canada

Superior Essays
What positive or negative impacts could the regulation of Euthanasia in Canada cause? Euthanasia is the intentional killing of someone in order to relieve ones pain or suffering. The legalization of Euthanasia has been a heavily debated topic in Canada for numerous years with various cases and point of views, leading to the current laws on euthanasia in Canada. It is an important matter that needs to be examined carefully as it relates to the value of people’s lives. The legalization of the practice of euthanasia has many negative affects as it goes against many doctors’ beliefs, degrades the value of human life that Canadian law protects, and will possibly be abused by both doctors and patients. The legalization of euthanasia would however …show more content…
The federal government uses laws and the Criminal Code to protect the value of human life and illegalize euthanasia in Canada. Under section 241 of The Criminal Code, it is a felony to assist with suicide despite the fact that suicide is not an offence. The Criminal Code states, “241. Everyone who: a) Counsels a person to commit suicide, or b) aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.” An opposing point against this argument would be that euthanasia offers the ultimate release for the terminally ill patients and can even be a form of palliative care. Due to the release euthanasia offers to the terminally ill, the majority of Canadians believe that it should be legalized. More than two-thirds of Canadians support making it legal for doctors to help the terminally ill kill themselves, a new poll suggests as the assisted-suicide issue once again provokes heated debate across the country (Blackwell). Often people might say, “Assisting death integrates compassionate care and respect for the patient 's autonomy and ultimately makes death with dignity a real option” (Kimsma). It is important to remember that palliative care is used to alleviate …show more content…
The legalization of euthanasia can be abused and turn the ethical and socially accepted form of euthanasia into a forced and involuntary form of this practice. Doctors may look at patients, notice how ill they are, and make the decision of life or death for the patient without their consent. It can be argued that section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom that says, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice,” also implies the right to death. This argument was used in the legal case of Gloria Taylor. In this case, it was claimed that the ban of physician-assisted suicide violated the Charter because if they want to end their suffering, they should be allowed to do so before they lose the capability to live life. Often people say, “Canadians should have the right to medically-assisted dying because we believe individuals should be entitled to a peaceful death - and that no one should have to die alone” (Dying With Dignity). Although many people believe that section 7 of the Charter implies a person’s right to die, the legalization of voluntary euthanasia can lead to the deprivation of a person’s right to life. If the government

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