Assisted Suicide

Cover

Download PDF (169.2 KB)
 

Front Matter

Download PDF (120.0 KB)
 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Download PDF (54.4 KB)
pp. v-vi

My thanks to those who contributed to this collection, both for their articles and their patience through the always difficult process of publication. My thanks also to Alex Zieba for his productive suggestions on the Introduction and for the quotation that begins it. Special thanks to Karen Weteleinen, Ivana ...

CONTENTS

Download PDF (60.4 KB)
pp. 8-9

FOREWORD

Download PDF (259.1 KB)
pp. ix-xiv

Out here, in the rest of the world, we must greet the appearance of an "all-Canadian" volume on physician-assisted suicide with exceptional enthusiasm. It may be difficult to realize how important an all-Canadian contribution to the global discussion of assisted dying is, if one just thinks of Canada ...

PREFACE

Download PDF (208.2 KB)
pp. xv-xviii

In August of 1992, I drove out to an unassuming suburban house on the Saanich Peninsula north of Victoria. A tall, attractive woman, age 42, met me at the door. Except for a slightly unsteady gait and hint of a quaver in her voice, she seemed outwardly healthy; but she was dying. Her name was ...

INTRODUCTION. Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris: (Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me,Thou must die)

Download PDF (798.1 KB)
pp. 1-14

A sea change is taking place in our attitude toward death. Death has come out of the closet. More accurately, dying is being increasingly acknowledged as an integral part of human life, as was the norm prior to our century's hygienic isolation of death. Dying has ceased to be something fearfully unspoken ...

CROSSING THE LINE: A Reflection on Palliative Care and Assisted Suicide¹

Download PDF (764.6 KB)
pp. 15-28

Throughout most of Western history death has occurred at home. Only the indigent were taken to hospital to die, but in the second half of the 20th century things changed. Spurred by the exigencies of the Second World War and by the postwar surge of energy and affluence, the 1950's and 60's saw scientific ...

DEFINITIONS AND MORAL ISSUES

Download PDF (781.1 KB)
pp. 29-42

Does assisted suicide differ from requested euthanasia? If so, in what respects? First, in order to be able to discuss this question, we need to differentiate what we mean by the terms "assisted suicide" and "euthanasia." Only then we can proceed to ask whether we should make legal or moral distinctions between ...

AMBIGUITY AND SYNERGISM IN "ASSISTED SUICIDE

Download PDF (1002.5 KB)
pp. 43-60

Present debate about "managed death"¹ is vitiated by ambiguity. Various forms of managed death—not delaying or hastening death in terminal illness—are being lumped together as "assisted suicide." But the bulk of managed death is not help in se/f-destruction; rather it is compassionate causing of ...

SIMPLY CALLING A TELEPHONE AN ELEPHANT WON'T DO

Download PDF (615.0 KB)
pp. 61-72

Assisted suicide and euthanasia are "bad" words in the practical world of health care. If a practitioner allows that active aid-in-dying of the sort connoted by these terms ought to be allowed in certain circumstances, he or she is very often looked at by colleagues as being morally questionable. This is ...

DEATH AND THE LAW

Download PDF (507.4 KB)
pp. 73-82

Considering the problem of dying in the medical context from the standpoint of Canadian law, it is helpful to discuss a series of contrasts or distinctions. The first distinction is between active euthanasia¹ and assisted suicide. The second is a distinction between euthanasia and assisted suicide on the ...

ASSISTED SUICIDE, ETHICS AND THE LAW: The Implications of Autonomy and Respect for Persons, Equality and Justice, and Beneficence

Download PDF (683.0 KB)
pp. 83-94

The Criminal Code of Canada, as indeed the relevant codes of many jurisdictions, prohibits assisted suicide. This prohibition is contained in section 241(b), which states that . . . 241. Every one who...(b) aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence ...

DECISION-MAKING CAPACITY AND ASSISTED SUICIDE

Download PDF (974.8 KB)
pp. 95-112

Decision-making capacity (mental competence) functions,in theory at least, to protect individual freedom from paternalism. Those who possess such capacity in regard to a certain matter are protected from the imposition of well-meaning concern for their well-being. Those who lack such capacity ...

THE MEDIA PERSPECTIVE¹

Download PDF (3.4 MB)
pp. 113-184

This annotated bibliography provides a substantial sampling of media coverage surrounding the issue of assisted suicide. The articles cover a span of 11 years (1988-1999), but the selection is weighted toward the last four (1996-1999). In order to make the project more manageable this bibliography ...

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Download PDF (903.0 KB)
pp. 185-206

THE CONTRIBUTORS

Download PDF (223.4 KB)
pp. 207-209