Assisted suicide should not be legalized in Canada - Essay Example

The Canadian statutes prohibit physician-aided suicide. In Canada, ever since 1972, suicide has not been a crime. However, a physician-assisted suicide is against the law. Section 241(b) of the Canadian Criminal Code stipulates that any individual who assists another person to execute suicide, and whether the suicide is successful or not is actually responsible for the offense (Prado) 80). Regulations that do not allow physician-aided suicide together with euthanasia are constitutionally aimed at protecting the Canadian people.

On the other hand, there have been debates on whether the state should decriminalize it or not. The most prominent case that opposed the law was the Sue Rodriguez against the British Columbia Supreme Court. Rodriguez pleaded with the Supreme Court of Canada to allow someone assist her end her life since she was suffering from a progressive brain disease (ALS) that would eventually kill her. Therefore, Rodriguez wanted to avoid the terrible suffering by having someone aid her take her life. In the same way, on March 2012, in Quebec, the legal institution ruled that the current regulation prohibiting assisted dying is discriminatory and overboard, as well as disproportionate.

This ruling was followed by an appeal by the federal government. The proponents and opponents of the legalization of assisted dying continue to hold their views. In the province of Quebec, on June 2014, the physician-assisted suicide became legal. As cited by McLellan, between 1990 and 1998, Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped in the suicides of more than 120 terminally sick individuals. Pursuing this further, the proponents of criminalization of assisted-suicide argue that the recent developments in medical technology have made it possible for people to live for years prior to their natural death.

Studies have demonstrated that patients who die by means of assisted suicide were most of the times diagnosed with depression. As cited by Kirkey, there is a