Essay On Euthanasia In Canada

Euthanasia in Canada should be legal in cases of patients suffering from terminal or chronic illness. Euthanasia falls under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a constitutional provision that protects an individual's autonomy and personal legal rights from actions of the government in Canada. As well as that, Canadian citizens reserve the right to die on their own terms, or, “die with dignity”. Finally, the addition of euthanasia to the end of life care program in Canada will not reduce the presence, nor the quality of other palliative care procedures.

Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that each Canadian has a fundamental right to life, liberty, and security of person. Some would argue that the

But it also encompasses life, liberty and security of the person during the passage to death. It is for this reason that the sanctity of life ‘is no longer seen to require that all human life be preserved at all costs.’ (Rodriguez, at p. 595, per Sopinka J.) And it is for this reason that the law has come to recognize that, in certain circumstances, an individual’s choice about the end of her life is entitled to respect.” (para. 63). The right to die under specific circumstances, is a fundamental right under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It is not uncommon for a person to find themselves faced with death as a certainty, following prolonged mental and physical deterioration accompanied with pain and often limited mobility. When faced with this type of prognosis, rational people suffer extremely throughout their experience of death. It is no surprise that many people, under these circumstances, wish to peacefully welcome death on their own terms. Currently, such people are prohibited from dying with dignity, and instead find themselves forced to die by natural causes. The ethical and morally correct thing to do is to let dying people of rational mind