BC Supreme Court Ruling on Physician-Assisted Suicide - Case Study Example

Other BC Supreme Court ruling on physician-assisted suicide Introduction On July 13 a notice of Appeal was filed by the Attorney General of Canada after his decision to seek an order for the provision of the declaration related to invalidity and exemption for permitting the option of physician-assisted death. Nevertheless, several factors hold under this condition up to the moment the appeal is decided by Court, whereby there has to be a tentative setting of appeal for hearing for a period of five days after the applications of the respondents. Therefore, there is a need for a consented order for staying declaration of invalidity and running suspension of the declaration to the date the decision of the Court on appeal. On the other hand, Canada is a country with stable and democratic politics, which are focused on conflict resolution and playing their significance. In this case, the paper will conduct an analysis on the issue related to BC Supreme Court ruling on physician-assisted suicide using the Canadian politics concepts. Issue summary The ruling of the BC Supreme Court on physician-assisted suicide has recently banned the issues since it is considered unconstitutional and it can facilitate the relief and fear from the society (Yosie, 1). Moreover, there is a degree of acceptability in relation to medical practices, such as administering doses of pain medication for hastening death are accepted. In fact, the elimination of laws against physician-assisted suicide can offer a chance for some patients to end their struggle with incurable disease. There is a counter argument in relation to physician-assisted suicide, whereby if the laws against the issue were eliminated this would increase the vulnerability of members of the society like the aged, cognitively impaired and disabled. The other hand, the opponents of the resent BC decision are applying politically charged terms for expressing their concerns, though the truth lies in these extremes. Furthermore, physician-assisted suicide is not considered ultimate salvation for patients suffering from incurable diseases, and it is not a catalyst for mass murdering the elderly or cognitively impaired. The British Colombia Supreme Court ruling has eliminated the criminal code ban on physician-assisted suicide, whereby the court declared the law against assisted suicide to be invalid. In addition, there was suspension by the judge concerning the declaration for allowing Federal Government time to draft legislation with a ruling perception. In fact, during the period of suspension, there was a constitutional exemption for implementing the permit. The parliament voted not to change laws of physician-assisted suicide two years ago, and the Federal government made a decision of appealing the decision. The government is focusing on the aspects of decision that entail the exemption of order found in ruling. On the other hand, the position of the Federal Government in prohibiting physician-assisted suicide has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court of Canada, and their interest is in protecting the human life through upholding the current laws. On the other hand, there was an appeal at the B.C. Supreme Court ruling concerning physician-assisted suicide, and the ruling of the Supreme Court was that Canada’s ban on assisted suicide infringed on the rights of disabled. Moreover, the ruling commenced in a way that can facilitate legalization of assisted suicide in the country. The government intends to seek the aspect of the ruling, which entail the exemption, and the British Colombian Court of Appeal. In fact, the government perceives provisions of Criminal Code to be prohibiting medical professionals for offering counseling services, which are permitted by the constitution. On the other hand, there was an objection by the government to the lower court decision aimed at granting the constitutional exemption resembling a regulatory framework for assisted suicide. For instance, there was a case involving a patient named Taylor, who was suffering from ALS, and she hailed the ruling of the lower court in order to give her control of making the decision concerning her death. There were expectations of the government would fail to appeal on the decision, whereby the patient argued that the government would not perceive physician-assisted suicide as a crime against Canadian people. On the other hand, there are discussions concerning physician-assisted suicide, whereby some people consider it as a violation of the two sections of chapter of rights concern the right to equality and right to life, liberty and security. However, the laws are expected to allow the physician-assisted suicide in situations involving serious illness or disability and the patient is experiencing unbearable suffering. Therefore, these kinds of patients ask for assistance in order to be free of coercion without clinical depression (Petti, 1). In this case, the laws against physician-assisted suicide are aimed at protecting the Canadians, especially those who are vulnerable. On the other hand, the government has nothing concerning the issues before the case is taken to court. Nevertheless, Canada has experienced a turbulent legal history in relation to physician-assisted suicide. Issue analysis There have numerous arguments against legalization of physician-assisted suicide at the individual level entailing a valid concern on the abusive application concerning the elderly, and increasing health care costs. In relation to this, the Canadian politics concepts have been applied as a way of influencing, making and implementing collective decisions (Mintz, Dunn and Tossutti, 4). Therefore, there are two relatively Environics polls that depicted the by Canadians politics as concerns about abuse of physician-assisted suicide after legalization. There are situations that the elderly people might be pressured to accept physician-assisted suicide in order to reduce the costs incurred through health care services (Theodore, 1). In this case, legalization of physician-assisted suicide can be considered as a controversy and conflict, which is characterized by Canadian politics because of relentless competition for position and political power (Attorney General of Canada, 1). Power is a substantial concept in Canadian politics, whereby is a key element in the analysis of the politics since it involves the ability to affect the behaviors of others in a way that makes them to behave in a certain manner. In this case, this raises the question on the need for the debate of physician-assisted suicide concerning things that can be done for relieving the pain, and determining whether legalization of assisted suicide would affect the medicine society negatively (National Post, 1). There are medicine and laws in the principal institutions carrying value of respect for life; hence, the collective decision of legalizing physician-assisted suicide would result to a norm. In relation to this, the collective decision of the political community mirror is extent for distributing the political power. Nevertheless, there are people with scant political power and the likelihood of finding a collective decision, thus failing to reflect their interest and values. There are results concerning the hesitation, whereby there is a balance of convinced favors, and there are no harms to the public contended by counseling for AG Canada surpasses the harms that would be associated with physician-assisted suicide (The Huffington Post Canada, 1). In fact, there are situations where the patients are left with no remedy for resolving their problems, thus they end up sacrificing to the concept of greater good in a way that they are informed. Moreover, the reasons for judgment has been associated with the significance of the public values that the Supreme Court of Canada seeks to determine if the situation is physician-assisted suicide is in accordance the interests of the public. There are other arguments related to the interests of the both sides of the issue that are elaborate upon the appeal progress thus there is a possibility of the public benefiting from the process (Taiaiake, 1). Canadian government makes rules for enforcing the rules for biding people living in Canada, and the national and provincial government is act on behave of the state, which is refers to all the institutions and agencies involved. Moreover, there are institutions with the authority for making executive decision such as presenting laws and implementation of these laws. The political scientists use the concepts of authority and legitimacy in an analysis of the power of government on issues like physician-assisted suicide (QMI Agency, 1). In this case, the authority is referred to as the right to exercise power, whereby people in governing position in Canada have the right to make and implement decisions for keeping with the constitution like the procedures of decision selection. Nevertheless, the legitimacy of the Canadian government can weaken among people with the feeling that the government is systematically unfair to their groups or unjust in the policies relating to physician-assisted suicide. On the issue related to physician-assisted suicide, the analysis on the state based on legitimacy indicates that there are people who feel that the state is forced on them or it is controlled by the act in the interest of others, thus challenging the legitimacy of the state. In this case, Canadian state in is illegitimate colonial power, which is subjected to laws of the Canadian government (National Post, 1). Therefore, on the issue related to physician-assisted suicide, the government has the power to make and implement decisions and the ability to persuade the society concerning the desirability of the policies. Moreover, they also influence the society on controlling information, attaining media exposures for their opinions and dissemination of information to the public through advertisement (Konberge, 1). In this case, politics involve the attempts focused on various groups and individuals influencing the government in a way that established a mutual relationship between the society and the government. There are other organizations, groups and individuals with the ability to make decisions and implement decisions apart from the government and legislature. The Canadian government invites interest groups in order to represent various elements of the society or sector of economy; hence, contribute to policy development on the topics like physician-assisted suicide. Conclusion The paper has conducted an analysis on the issue related to BC Supreme Court ruling on physician-assisted suicide using the Canadian politics concepts. It commences on a summary about the issues, which is proceeded by an analysis of the ruing on physician-assisted suicide, whereby there was a prohibition on the issues. The ruling is analyzed in terms of the concepts of Canadian politics in order to understand people’s perception on the issue. There are some of the reasons that contributed to the prohibition of the issue such as protection of the vulnerable population, whereby the elderly and the cognitively impaired population might be coursed to physician-assisted suicide due to increased cost of health care services. Given that, the Canadian government has the power to influence people and the ability to persuade the society concerning the desirability of the policies, the ruling of the court is implemented thus prohibiting physician-assisted suicide. In this case, the paper has achieved the set objective of analyzing the BC Supreme Court ruling on physician-assisted suicide using the Canadian politics concepts. 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"Self-Concept of American & Canadian Party Official". Jstor. 1970. 3(1). Available at: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3234153?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101422193107[Accessed on November 10 2012]     Mintz, Eric, Dunn Christopher and Tossutti Livianna. Democracy, Diversity and Good Government: An Introduction to Politics in Canada (Custom). Toronto: Pearson, 2011. Print National Post. "B.C. Supreme Court strikes down assisted-suicide ban". News. Available at: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/15/b-c-supreme-court-strikes-down-assisted-suicide-ban-as-unconstitutional/[Accessed on November 10 2012] National Post. "Conservative government to appeal assisted suicide ruling after B.C. Supreme Court strikes down ban.” News. Jul 13, 2012. Available at: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/13/harper-government-to-appeal-assisted-suicide-ruling-after-b-c-supreme-court-strikes-down-ban/[Accessed on November 10 2012] Petti Fong. "B.C. court to rule on doctor-assisted suicide".thestar.com. Available at:  http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1211697--b-c-court-to-rule-on-doctor-assisted-suicide [Accessed on November 10 2012]   QMI Agency. "B.C. womans doctor-assisted suicide wish upheld". Toronto Sun. Available at:  http://www.torontosun.com/2012/08/10/bc-womans-doctor-assisted-suicide-wish-upheld [Accessed on November 10 2012] Taiaiake Alfred. "First Nation Perspectives on Political Identity". First Nation Citizenship Research & Policy Series: Building Towards Change. June 2009. Available at: http://64.26.129.156/misc/FN-political-identity.pdf [Accessed on November 10 2012]  The Canadian Press. "Appeal Court upholds exemption from doctor-assisted suicide ban". Macleans.ca. August 10, 2012. Available at: http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/08/10/appeal-court-upholds-exemption-from-doctor-assisted-suicide-ban/ [Accessed on November 10 2012]    The Huffington Post Canada. Assisted Suicide Ruling Appealed: Ottawa To Fight B.C. Court Decision. June 13 2012. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/07/13/assisted-suicide-ruling-appeal_n_1671724.html [Accessed on November 10 2012] Theodore Terri. "Assisted Suicide Laws In Canada Infringe Rights, Says B.C. Supreme Court; Gloria Taylor Granted Exemption". The Canadian Press. June 15 2012. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/15/assisted-suicide-laws-in-_n_1600876.html [Accessed on November 10 2012]  Yosie Saint-Cyr." Update: British Columbia Court Upholds Woman’s Exemption from Doctor- Assisted Suicide Ban". Law Located. August 10, 2012. Available at: http://www.slaw.ca/2012/08/10/update-british-columbia-court-upholds-womans-exemption-from-doctor-assisted-suicide-ban/[Accessed on November 10 2012] Read More