OTTAWA - A broad alliance of Catholic and other organizations opposed to assisted suicide is urging that upcoming legislation provide explicit protections for disabled and other vulnerable people including a review by a judge or independent authority prior to the killing of any patient.

Published in Canada

VANCOUVER - Vancouver physicians have carried out Canada’s first known case of assisted suicide outside of Quebec.

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TORONTO - The parliamentary committee report on how to legalize assisted suicide may want “all publicly funded health care institutions (to) provide medical assistance in dying,” but Ontario Catholic hospitals, nursing homes and health centres aren’t having it.

Published in Canada: Toronto-GTA
March 3, 2016

Stop the madness

Six years ago, 89-year-old Kay Carter, a terminally ill Vancouver woman, circumvented Canadian law by purchasing a doctor-assisted suicide in Switzerland. Her death prompted a 2011 lawsuit that sought access to assisted suicide for other Canadians who were suffering and near death.

Published in Editorial

Catholic lawyers may soon find themselves turning down business from clients who would rather die than live with Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease or other disabilities.

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OTTAWA - Should the federal government accept the recommendations of its special committee on assisted death, it will threaten the existence of Canada’s faith-based health care institutions, says the Coalition for HealthCARE.

Published in Canada

With doctor-assisted suicide now legal in Quebec and available across Canada to anyone granted permission from a Superior Court judge, bishops and pastors will face new pastoral dilemmas.

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OTTAWA - It would be inappropriate for a person intent on assisted suicide to request the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, said Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.

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OTTAWA - If legalized assisted suicide is one wing of the bird the other wing is palliative care, said MP Murray Rankin as he tabled a motion to make access to palliative care a right for all Canadians.

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OTTAWA - Bioethicist Margaret Somerville warned up to 12,000 people could be euthanized annually in Canada if a new law does not ensure euthanasia is exceptional, rare and used only as a last resort.

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Advocates in favour of wider access to assisted suicide have dominated parliamentary committee hearings that will help craft a new assisted-suicide law, with little opposition so far from religious voices.

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OTTAWA - Physician-assisted death legislation could include competent children under the age of 18, a legal expert told a Parliamentary committee Jan. 26.

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OTTAWA - Legislation that tries to restrict assisted suicide and euthanasia to the terminally ill would likely fail a court challenge, a prominent constitutional lawyer told a Parliamentary committee.

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The federal government has been given four more months to come up with new laws and regulations to govern the practice of doctor-assisted suicide.

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The first death by legal euthanasia in Canadian history has occurred, according to a Quebec healthcare spokesperson.

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