RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Bioethics for clinicians: 11. Euthanasia and assisted suicide
JF Canadian Medical Association Journal
JO CMAJ
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 1405
OP 1408
VO 156
IS 10
A1 Lavery, J. V.
A1 Dickens, B. M.
A1 Boyle, J. M.
A1 Singer, P. A.
YR 1997
UL http://www.cmaj.ca/content/156/10/1405.abstract
AB Euthanasia and assisted suicide involve taking deliberate action to end or assist in ending the life of another person on compassionate grounds. There is considerable disagreement about the acceptability of these acts and about whether they are ethically distinct from decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are punishable offences under Canadian criminal law, despite increasing public pressure for a more permissive policy. Some Canadian physicians would be willing to practise euthanasia and assisted suicide if these acts were legal. In practice, physicians must differentiate between respecting competent decisions to forgo treatment, providing appropriate palliative care, and acceeding to a request for euthanasia or assisted suicide. Physicians who believe that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be legally accepted in Canada should pursue their convictions only through legal and democratic means.