Right to Die

I fully agree with the majority of Canadians, who support decriminalizing assisted suicide because I think it will protect the individual right to a dignified death.

Suicide without disturbing the society is a legal action based on people’s rights and obligations in Constitutional law. However, if some person suffers from incurable sickness and is physically incapable of taking any suicide step by his/her own, in this case, under the patient’s permission, the one who assists the patient’s suicide should be considered as innocent.

Rodriguez, who lived in Victoria, British Columbia, was diagnosed with a terminal disease in early 1991. She fought to have a legal right to assisted suicide. She took her cause to the Supreme Court of Canada, but ultimately lost. In 1994, she decided to take her own life with the help of an unknown person. Svend Robinson, a New Democratic Party MP who had supported her cause, was also present.

According to Canadian law, any one who helps other to ending his/her life will be charged as first-degree murder. The accused will face 14 years in Jail. I would say this term excludes the individuals right to life, liberty and security.  If a certain law does not allow individuals to give consent to their deaths, or to control the time and circumstances of their own deaths, then this kind of law is against in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Therefore, this kind of law should be considered as “unconstitutional”. In this case, it should be considered as being no longer valid and citizens do not have to obey it.

On the other hand, to allow assisted suicide also prevents the waste of tax, medication and finance in Canada.

Though up to now there are only three countries openly and legally authorize assisted suicide, many countries show sympathetic toward legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. I would suggest that Canada's laws must need to be changed to protect people like Rodriguez.