Canadian law on euthanasia: Contrasts and comparisons

European Journal of Health Law

Volumn 8, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 135-155

  Lemmens, Trudo ^a   Dickens, Bernard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CANADA; CRIMINAL JUSTICE; EUTHANASIA; HOMICIDE; LAW; LEGAL ASPECT; PUNISHMENT; REVIEW;

EID: 0034881807     PISSN: 09290273     EISSN: 15718093     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/15718090120523466     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. Senate of Canada, Of Life and Death: Report of the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, 1995, at p. 88.
2. See Keown, J. (ed.) Euthanasia Examined: Ethical, Clinical and Legal Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
3. For a recent example, see Rizzo, R.F. "Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States: Confronting Legal and Medical Reasoning: Part Two" 21 Theoretical Medicine (2000) 291-304
4. Kennedy, I. and Grubb, A. Principles of Medical Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, at p. 845.
5. Rodriguez v. British Columbia (Attorney-General) (1993), 107 D.L.R. (4th) 342 (Sup. Ct. Can.).
6. Roscoe L.A., Malphurs J.E., Dragovic L.J. and Cohen D., "Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Cases of Euthanasia in Oakland County, Michigan, 1990-1998" 343(23) NEJM (2000) 1735-1736.
7. Washington v. Glucksberg (1997), 521 US 702 (U.S. Sup. Ct.).
8. Compassion in Dying v. Washington (1997), 79 F. 3d 790.
9. Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1990), 497 U.S. 261 (U.S. Sup. Ct.).
10. Washington v. Glucksberg (1997), 521 US 702 at p. 725.
11. See e.g. Rizzo, note 6 above, in particular at 298-9. For support of the distinction see e.g. Miller F.G., Fins J.J. and Snyder L., "Assisted Suicide Compared with Refusal of Treatment: A Valid Distinction?" 132 Ann. Intern. Med. (2000) 470-475; (Pubitemid 30149045)
12. Alpers, A. & Lo, B. "The Supreme Court Addresses Physician-Assisted Suicide." 8(3) Archives of Family Medicine (1999) 200-205, May/June 1999.
13. Gunderson M. & Mayo D.J., "Restricting Physician-Assisted Death to the Terminally Ill" 30(6) Hastings Center Report (2000) 17.
14. Baron C.H. et al., "A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide" (33)(1) Harvard Journal on Legislation (1996) 1-34.
15. Death With Dignity Act, Ore. Rev. Stat. Sections 127.800 et seq. (1997). Copy of the Act and other official documents and reports related to the Act can be viewed on the Oregon Department of Human Services Website at http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/chs/pas/pas.htm
16. and in B. Sneiderman, "Decision-Making at the End of Life" in Downie J. and Caulf ield T. (eds.) Canadian Health Law and Policy, Toronto: Butterworths (1999) 397-425, at 415.
17. Indeed it was once suggested, by a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, that precedent in some provincial courts of appeal, such as of Ontario, is more strict than in the English counterpart; see Laskin, B. The British Tradition in Canadian Law, Hamlyn Lectures, 21st series, 1969.
18. See Dickens, B.M. "Medically assisted death: Nancy B. v. Hôtel-Dieu de Quebec, 38 McGill Law J. (1993), 1053-1070.
19. See Lemmens, T. "Towards the Right To Be Killed? Treatment refusal, assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States and Canada 52 British Med. Bulletin (1996) 341.
20. Rizzo, supra note 6 at 293-295. For an updated list, see http://www.choices.org/legal.htm
21. See e.g. Thor v. Superior Court (1993) 855 P.2d 375; 21 Cal. Rptr. 2d 357. For a good overview
22. see Jerdee A.L., "Breaking Through The Silence: Minnesota's Preganancy Presumption And The Right To Refuse Medical Treatment," 84 Minn. L. Rev. (2000) 971;
23. Orentlicher D., "The Alleged Distinction Between Euthanasia and The Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment: Conceptually Incoherent and Impossible to Maintain," University of Illinois Law Rev. (1998) 837. (Pubitemid 128443762)
24. See e.g. Anderson v. St. Frances-St. George Hospital (1996) 671 N.E. 2d 225 (Ohio Supreme Court).
25. Child and Family Services of Central Manitoba v. Lavallee (1997), 154 D.L.R. (4th) 409.
26. See e.g. J.M. Gilmour, "Minors" in Downie J. and Caulfield T., note 29 above, 179 at 203-205.
27. J. Downie, "A Choice for K'aila: Child Protection and First Nations Children" 2 Health L.J. (1994) 99;
28. C.R. Stiller, "Transplantation: Therapy or Experimentation. When Does a Medical Procedure become an Accepted Therapy and a Legal Right?" in Dickens B. and Ouellette M. (eds), Health Care, Ethics and Law (Montreal: Themis, 1993).
29. Sawatzky v. Riverview Health Centre Inc. (1998), 167 D.L.R. (4th) 359 (Man. Q.B.).
30. Airedale National Health Service Trust v. Bland, (1993) 1 All E.R. 821 (H.L.).
31. Meisel, A., Snyder L. & Quill T., "Seven Legal Barriers to End-of-Life Care: Myths, Realities, and Grains of Truth" 284(19) J. JAMA(2000), 2495-2501.