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The all party parliamentary committee on palliative and compassionate care issued its report in November.  While the report is silent on the issues of right-to-die it does make a compelling case  for more palliative care resources and the need for a national palliative care strategy.

Read the whole report in the recommended reading section of our resource library.

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear two Ontario Doctors who want to stop medically futile life support being provided to a comatose patient who they believe has no reasonable prospect of recovery.

This is an interesting case as substitute decision makers are pitted against family doctors in deciding whether treatment should be continued. The legislation is very clear with respect to an individual's (or their substitute decision maker's) right to refuse treatment.

This case is different as it deals with a substitute decision maker's right to continue treatment in what are perceived, by the doctors at least, to be medically futile circumstances.

Read the Globe and Mail article; you can also login to leave a comment.

After a day off on Thursday December 15th to allow the plaintiff’s counsel to complete their reply to both the Federal & Provincial Crown’s argument; Friday, Dec 16 was the final day of the Gloria Taylor trial.  DWD's Executive Director, Wanda Morris summarizes the testimony given during the final day in court.

No one wants to die

In talking about the wish of grievously and irredeemably ill people to end their suffering, Joe Arvay, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs noted, nobody says:

• I have a perfectly good leg - cut it off.
• I have a perfectly good body - kill it.

He said that everyone, especially Gloria Taylor, wants to live; no one wants to die. It is only when suffering is so great that death is a better alternative that a patient will choose to die.

Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die reports from the BC Supreme Court on the subbmission of the three interveners in support of the plaintiffs.  The counsel for the interveners gave oral and written submissions to the Court.
 

This Report from Farewell Foundation for the Right to Die covers the Carter Trial December 1, 2011

Day 11: Thursday, December 01, 2011

Counsel for the plaintiffs, Joe Arvay, began the first day of what will be several days of argument. He told the court that the case involves the rights of unfortunate Canadians who have irremediable medical conditions that cause intolerable suffering, such as “ALS, Huntington’s, ravaging cancer … but also those with rarer conditions, like the bluntly but aptly named “Locked-In Syndrome” – a condition capable of transforming the body into the breathing equivalent of a medieval dungeon.” He said that there are those who “believe there are states of being that are literally worse than death, and who wish to embrace the latter in the time, manner and circumstances of their own choosing.”
 

DWD responds to Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition with charge over misleading statistics.  Click here for rebuttal from DWD Director John Warren.

A BC family helped first one and later another parent to die.  Critical testimony is filed as part of BCCLA case.  Click here to read the globe and mail article. 

By Wanda Morris, DWD's Executive Director

One of my favourite past-times is playing something called Fantasy Football.  As one of my friends recently commented when he found out what that involved, "oh, so not quite as interesting as it sounds".  Essentially, each player has $50 million pounds (of play money!) to select and manage an English Premier League football (soccer) team.  They then try and earn as many points as possible through a combination of goals, assists and clean sheets.

In an-going series of articles exploring end-of-life issues, today the Globe and Mail explores end of life costs.

Click here to read the full story.

Without fanfare, Georgia has become the fourth state in the United States to legalize physician assisted suicide, the attorney general of Georgia disclosed in a brief before the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Read the full story here

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has been heavily featured in the press this week with their talk of risks and slippery slopes.

John Warren, DWD Board Member, takes a closer look at that claim.

Between 70% and 80% of Canadians are in favour of having access to medically assisted dying, providing proper controls are in place to protect the weak and the vulnerable. Of course we should have the right to control our own bodies and of course we don’t want to impose that right on others who do not want to die in that manner.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition thinks otherwise. According to its website, its members believe that euthanasia and assisted suicide should continue to be treated as murder/homicide, irrespective of whether the person killed has consented to be killed. Hmmm. Let’s assume that I am paralyzed, unable to walk, talk or swallow and am in diapers all the time. I decide that I want to die and I plead for a doctor to end my pain and indignity. Members of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition would want to put the doctor, who would be acting on my instructions into jail for 14 years. How can that attitude be justified?

What a week for choice in dying!

A Royal Society of Canada expert panel now makes its long-awaited report and has concluded in favour not only of medically-assisted dying (providing a lethal prescription) but also of medically- administered-assisted dying (administering of the lethal medication by a doctor or other medical person to the patient).

Read the CBC's report here.

Read the Main Messages from the report here.

Read the Report in Brief here.

Read the Executive Summary here.

Read the panel's full report here.