Alex Schadenberg Special to The Interim It removes the requirement that a person’s natural death must be reasonably foreseeable to qualify for death by lethal injection. It permits a doctor or nurse practitioner to lethally inject a person who is incapable of consenting, if that person was previously approved. This contravenes the Supreme Court of Canada Carter decision which stated that only [...]
On Oct. 3, an 83-year-old Nova Scotian was killed by lethal injection following a legal battle in which his wife of 48 years tried to prevent the euthanasia killing. Katherine Sorenson, 82, failed in her legal bid to stop the medicalized killing of her husband Jack. Lawyers for the wife may seek leave to appeal to Canada’s Supreme Court to address several [...]
Disabilities group condemns C-7, EPC says safeguards are being eroded Justice Minister David Lametti introduced Bill C-7 on Oct. 5, bringing back the federal government’s legislation to broaden so-called Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). Last September, a Quebec court threw out several provisions of the federal euthanasia and assisted-suicide law, most notably the requirement that death be “reasonably foreseeable” in order to [...]
In July, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition received a phone call from Katherine in Nova Scotia who was very upset because her husband, who lives with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but is not otherwise dying, was seeking approval for euthanasia. Katherine was shocked when a known euthanasia doctor determined that her husband qualified for euthanasia even though another doctor’s assessment stated that [...]
By: Josie Luetke Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey Imagine a man on death row. Some of you probably support his being there, or at least raise no objection. Imagine that he has been fighting his impending execution for years when he learns he has terminal cancer. Suddenly, his will to live vanishes. To be spared the anguish of cancer, [...]
By Lianne Laurence Special to The Interim Canadians should be “deeply ashamed” of their government’s first annual report on euthanasia that reveals that 771 sick Canadians asked to be lethally injected in 2019 because of loneliness, says a well-known American euthanasia opponent. “Good grief. We are told that euthanasia is ‘compassion.’ But how compassionate is it when last year in Canada, [...]
An 82-year-old Canadian woman is going to court to stop her husband of 48 years from being euthanized, arguing that he is not eligible to be lethally injected under the country’s current law. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), which is financing the unprecedented case, sent out an urgent appeal for funds August 14 after a judge rejected the wife’s request for an [...]
Despite urgency of euthanasia, CPC front-runners do not address issue The Conservative leadership candidates have not focused closely on the issue of so-called Medical Aid in Dying, or MAiD (euthanasia), even though the government is debating the expansion of euthanasia through Bill C-7. The two supposed front-runners, Peter MacKay and Erin O'Toole have not addressed the issue. Derek Sloan vowed to "Extend the official review [...]
Rory Leishman In a landmark decision on April 21, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands held that a Dutch physician was not guilty of murder in the planned and deliberate killing of a demented patient in a nursing home despite not having even attempted to obtain the consent of the patient to be euthanized. Regardless, the Court held that the [...]
Italian psychiatrist raises doubts about assisted suicide and mental illness Bernardo Carpiniello reports that psychiatrists raise serious clinical concerns in approving euthanasia for mentally ill patients. Bernardo Carpiniello of the Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health-Unit of Psychiatry at the University of Cagliari, Italy, published an article in the Journal of the Italian Society of Psychiatrywarning about the dangers [...]
It is madness, if you will excuse the expression, to extend Canada’s already-permissive euthanasia/assisted suicide regime to the mentally ill. As we have recently reported in these pages, the Trudeau government’s Bill C-7 eliminates what modest restrictions existed in their 2016 euthanasia law, including that death be imminent. While claiming that C-7 does not allow mental illness as a reason to access [...]
Canadian abortionists respond to covid-19 On March 18, Global Newsreported on how various work environments were impacted by the coronavirus; one was a Toronto abortuary. Jane Gerster reported on the “seemingly never-ending list of cancellations and closures,” noting that “The situation changes almost hourly.” She sought out human interest stories on how the widespread closure “is already changing people’s lives nationwide,” including [...]
Editor’s Note:On Feb. 25, Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, released a statement on the introduction of Bill C-7:An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying). The Interim reprints the statement in full. The federal government has introduced new legislation expanding the eligibility criteria for euthanasia. The inaccurate term, medical assistance in dying (MAiD), is currently used to describe [...]
Federal government bill guts euthanasia safeguards. On Feb. 24, the Trudeau government tabled legislation that would make Canada’s euthanasia law the most permissive in the world according to anti-euthanasia groups. Bill C-7 was introduced by Justice Minister David Lametti and, if passed without amendment, the Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) will liberalize the three-year-old euthanasia [...]
Editor’s Note: The term “euthanasia” in Canada, in its legal voluntary form is called “medical assistance in dying” and became legal along with assisted suicide in June 2016. The term ‘assisted suicide’ means that the individual committing suicide dies by a self-administered drug rather than a doctor-administered lethal injection. “Medical assistance in dying” and “death by legal injection” mean that a doctor [...]