The act of ending the life of another person raises fundamental questions of human dignity and rights
In the early days of Canada’s public conversation about medical assistance in dying (MAID), Dr. Jeff Blackmer, then vice-president of the Canadian Medical Association, expressed the gravitas of the policy choices that lay ahead as “no less than a sea change” to the ethos and culture of the medical profession. That was in 2016, after…
We need to learn from the lessons of history when considering assisted dying for those with disabilities – no matter how unsettling that history may be
History has a role in the national conversation about medically-assisted death, despite protests to the contrary. A respected physician and scholar recently stepped down as chair of the expert working group appointed to study the issue of advanced directives for medically-assisted death. Named to this position only two weeks earlier by the Council of Canadian…
The dynamics of inducement are at the heart of disability rights groups’ urgent calls for a cautious approach to medically-assisted death
For some of us, the book of life will close abruptly. A sudden pop, crunch or snap, and we’ll be gone. Perhaps some body part or system will betray us, utterly and fatally, in an otherwise banal moment of the day or night. Or perhaps some force of nature or violent strike will pluck us…