[jolepp]

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has declared Canada's laws against physician-assisted suicide unconstitutional because they discriminate against the physically disabled.

In a 395-page ruling released Friday, Justice Lynn Smith addressed the situation faced by Gloria Taylor, a B.C. woman who was one of five plaintiffs in the case seeking the legal right to doctor-assisted suicide.
Taylor has ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, and she sought the ruling to allow her doctor to help her end her life before she becomes incapacitated. The case was fast-tracked in August because of her illness.

In her ruling, Smith noted suicide itself is not illegal, and therefore the law against assisted suicide contravenes Section 15 of the charter, which guarantees equality, because it denies physically disabled people like Taylor the same rights as able-bodied people who can take their own lives, she ruled.

"The impact of that distinction is felt particularly acutely by persons such as Ms. Taylor, who are grievously and irremediably ill, physically disabled or soon to become so, mentally competent and who wish to have some control over their circumstances at the end of their lives," Smith writes.

"The distinction is discriminatory … because it perpetuates disadvantage."

Smith also says the law deprives both people like Taylor and those who try to help them of the right to life and liberty guaranteed under Section 7 of the charter.

She argued the legislation could force a person to take their life sooner than they want to in order to kill themselves while still physically capable.

And Smith says the risk of incarceration denies the right of freedom to relatives who assist by taking their loved ones to jurisdictions where physician-assisted suicide is legal.
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Assisted-suicide ban struck down by B.C. court - British Columbia - CBC News

[magkelly]

It never ceases to amaze me the fuss over this issue. If an animal is suffering unimaginable pain you can put it down and everyone will pat you on the back and tell you how human the decision was, but a human being in the same situation has to be made to suffer until the bitter end? That is just totally hypocritical to me.

[jolepp]

related: Right to assisted suicide 'momentous' says B.C. woman - British Columbia - CBC News