Canadian Supreme Court Considering Euthanasia

Luke 17:28-30 “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built” but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

The Canadian Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the country’s ban on assisted suicide.

“Every one who … 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,” states the Criminal Code of Canada.

The court is looking at the appeal of a ruling form the British Columbia Court of Appeals which overruled a lower court ruling approving euthanasia.  A woman suffering from ALS who has died since the filing of the suit, claimed that denying her the right to have someone assist her in dying violated her rights and discriminates against the disabled.

“If the Supreme Court strikes down our laws against assisted suicide/euthanasia, then it will be up to parliament to come up with a new law,” said MP Maurice Vellacott. “If the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down Canada’s current laws on euthanasia or assisted suicide, then CPSO’s policy would mean Ontario’s physicians would have a ‘duty to refer’ patients for treatments intended to kill the patient.”

Two Canadian senators have introduced a bill that would remove any criminal penalties to doctors who help a patient end their lives.  The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has also crafted a policy that would require doctors to participate in the process regardless of their personal beliefs.

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