A Roberts Creek couple is elated this week about winning a Supreme Court case that will allow Canadians to choose medical assistance in dying if they so desire.
“We’re ecstatic and we’re just savouring our victory along with a number of other Canadians, I think,” said Lee Carter.
Carter and her partner Hollis Johnson were lead plaintiffs in the death with dignity case taken to the Supreme Court of Canada in an effort to have the court recognize that Canadians have a constitutional right to choose medical assistance to end their lives.
The court agreed with the plaintiffs on Feb. 6 when it struck down the laws that make physician-assisted dying illegal in Canada.
“The Supreme Court ruled that the criminal prohibition on physician-assisted dying is unconstitutional,” a press release from the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) stated. “The court determined that the ban violates section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because it forces seriously and incurably ill Canadians to endure unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of life and takes away their freedom to choose a more dignified and peaceful death.”
Carter and Johnson got involved with the court case the year after they took Carter’s mother Kathleen to Switzerland in January 2010 to end her life, at Kathleen’s request.
Kathleen was 89 years old at the time and suffered from spinal stenosis, a degenerative condition that confined her to a wheelchair and made it impossible for her to feed herself or go to the bathroom without help. She was also in chronic pain and wished to end her life with medical assistance, which was available in Switzerland.
“When we were in Switzerland she had us write a letter to all of her friends and I had 125 copies made. She died at noon on the Friday and we took the letters that we already addressed and we sent them out from Switzerland to 125 different people around the world. So it was out at that point,” Carter said.
“She just said ‘I’ve chosen to end my life. Those that have brought me here have not coerced me and I’ve done it of my own volition, and please rejoice in my life.’ So when those letters were sent out it really became public.”
The following spring the BCCLA asked Carter and Johnson if they would become lead plaintiffs in a death with dignity case they planned to take to the Supreme Court. The couple agreed, wanting others to be able to pass away on their own terms in Canada, rather than seeking a death elsewhere.
Carter said her mother would have been proud of the win they secured in court last week.
“She was someone who was always interested in debate and discussions of things, and I think she had no idea that this issue would really be her legacy, but she’d be ecstatic,” Carter said.
The ruling from the Supreme Court applies only to competent adults who clearly consent to the “hastening of life,” who have an “irremediable medical condition” and who are suffering intolerably.
During the next 12 months, the federal and provincial governments can look at enacting new legislation that upholds the court ruling; however, the court said that new legislation is not mandatory.
“If no action is taken, there will be no regulatory vacuum,” said Grace Pastine of the BCCLA. “Physician-assisted dying will be regulated in the same manner as other health care matters. That is, the provincial and territorial laws that apply to health care matters and the standards of the medical profession will govern physician-assisted dying.”
Find out more at www.bccla.org
