The planned expansion of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law to include people with mental illnesses whose death is not imminent has been delayed, but not cancelled.
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People make decisions throughout their lives about their health. But when they are terminally ill they are not allowed to decide when they want to die.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu didn’t stop his fight for human rights once apartheid came to a formal end in 1994. He continued to speak critically against politicians who abused their power.
On May 16, 2019, Madeleine Munier Apaire (shown here in June 2014), lawyer for Vincent Lambert’s nephew, considered that all remedies were “exhausted”.
Eric Feferberg/AFP
The debate over Mr. Vincent Lambert’s decision to discontinue his care overshadowed equally important judicial and ethical issues. A look back at a complex situation that will set a precedent.
Australian scientist David Goodall photographed in Basel, Switzerland, on May 8, 2018 ended his life in with assisted suicide.
(AP Photo/Jamey Keaten)
Recent stories in the media highlight the idea of suicide tourism to Switzerland. But what does that mean? How is the Swiss view of assisted dying different from the Canadian one?
Route forward? Oregon was the first place to license doctors to supply lethal drugs to terminally-ill people.
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California now allows terminally ill people to end their lives. In the 2,800-year-old Jain tradition, individuals can choose to fast unto death, when it makes no sense to prolong suffering.
Campaigners stand outside the US Supreme Court in 2005.
REUTERS
The assisted dying debate usually focuses on the moment of death - not those leading up to it.
Historical evidence of suicide rates varying with the philosophy of the times urges caution about adopting an unqualified libertarian stance that privileges autonomy above all else.
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Seven Australians will die today as a result of suicide, the leading cause of death in young Australian men. So the media interest surrounding one in particular, that of 45-year-old Nigel Brayley’s suicide…