Deciding on Death
Deciding on Death
Rodriguez, Carter, and Medically Assisted Dying in Canada
Should Canadians have the right to medical assistance in dying? That question has galvanized debate since the early 1990s, when Sue Rodriguez unsuccessfully challenged the criminalization of assisted dying. The Supreme Court of Canada subsequently reversed its position in a 2015 case brought by the family of Kay Carter, who had travelled outside the country for access to an assisted death.
Deciding on Death provides a comprehensive history of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canadian law through a close analysis of the Rodriguez and Carter decisions. It also traces the political and legislative developments before and after those landmark cases. The controversy is ongoing, with unresolved questions about medical assistance for mature minors, those with mental illness, and persons making advance requests. However, Carter clarified the circumstances under which the court was willing to overrule its own decisions and elucidated the Charter right to life, liberty, and security of the person.
Legalization of medically assisted dying has finally given many Canadians with incurable medical conditions that cause them intolerable suffering the ability to choose the manner and timing of their death. Over fifteen thousand people per year now pursue that option. This timely book explains how we got here and the decisions that still lie ahead.
Deciding on Death illuminates a controversial and deeply personal topic for scholars and students of political science, law, and society, as well as for politicians, medical practitioners, and a wider readership, as these legal decisions will affect everyone’s consideration of their own end of life.
To understand why we are where we are in relation to medical assistance in dying, it is crucial to understand where we came from. Deciding on Death, the most thorough and engaging review of the field that I have ever read, provides that understanding. This exceptional book will be of great use not only to Canadians but also others around the world seeking accurate and helpful lessons from the Canadian experience of MAiD.
McNeil and Sumner masterfully map thirty-five years of motley forces shaping Canadian MAiD jurisprudence. This volume not only delineates the complete legal history of MAiD in Canada but also comprehensively integrates influential international developments in end-of-life decision-making.
Deciding on Death brings out the extent to which the legal development of medically assisted dying in Canada is both dependent on particularities of the Canadian legal and social context, and on the same basic ethical considerations that determine the discussion everywhere.
Kent McNeil is Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. He is the author of numerous works on the rights of Indigenous peoples, including Emerging Justice? Essays on Indigenous Rights in Canada and Australia, Flawed Precedent: The St. Catherine’s Case and Aboriginal Title, and Common Law Aboriginal Title. He is an honorary member of the Indigenous Bar Association and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Wayne Sumner is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Among his books are Abortion and Moral Theory, The Moral Foundation of Rights, Assisted Death: A Study in Ethics and Law, and Physician-Assisted Death: What Everyone Needs to Know. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the 2009 Molson Prize in Social Sciences and Humanities from the Canada Council for the Arts. He lives in Toronto.
