Bishop wants assisted death decision appealed

The bishop of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, in Sudbury, says he hopes a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision to strike down the the ban on providing a doctor-assisted death in certain cases is appealed.

“I'm sure there are a lot of people who did not feel comfortable with this particular issue being brought before the court,” said Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe.

The Supreme Court unanimously struck down Friday the ban on providing a doctor-assisted death to mentally competent but suffering and "irremediable" patients.

The court's judges agreed current laws “unjustifiably infringe s. 7 of the charter and are of no force or effect to the extent that they prohibit physician-assisted death for a competent adult person who (1) clearly consents to the termination of life and (2) has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.”

The court added the ban on physician-assisted suicide infringes on all three of the life, liberty and and security of person provisions in S. 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But Plouffe said proper palliative care should be the solution for patients who are near death, rather than physician-assisted death.

He said palliative care, when done well, can relieve most people of their physical and psychological pain when they are very ill and near death.

“It's a real blessing to have the hospice we have,” he said, referring to Sudbury's Maison Vale Hospice.

“The way Catholics see life, we do not choose the time we come into this world, and we do not choose the time we go to the other world,” he said.

The Supreme Court has given Parliament one year to pass legislation that would repeal the ban on physician-assisted death under certain conditions.

If Parliamentarians pass no new legislation on the issue within 12 months, existing laws will be struck down automatically.