Court lifts ban on assisted dying

Bishops in Canada are troubled at a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to overturn the existing ban on assisted dying, writes Peter Kavanagh.

Against the wishes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Government, the court’s nine judges voted unanimously on 6 February to overturn a 1993 ban on the procedure. The court said mentally competent, consenting adults with a terminal illness, or a life filled with “intolerable pain”, should have the right to a doctor’s help to die. The illness does not have to be terminal.

The court gave the federal and provincial governments a year to come up with legislation. If they fail to do so, there will be no legal prohibition preventing a person from seeking medical assistance in dying or any proscription preventing a doctor from helping.

Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, head of the Canadian bishops’ conference, said: “My brother bishops and I entreat governments and courts to interpret today’s judgment in its narrowest terms, resisting any calls to go beyond this to so-called acts of ‘mercy killing’ and euthanasia.”

The Canadian Medical Association is to update its ethical codes to support physicians involved in the procedure and those who object to it, while all governments study the ruling.