On Friday, the Canadian Supreme Court unanimously overturned a 1993 ban on doctor-assisted suicide on the grounds that it impinged on citizens’ rights. But just how much this ruling will affect individuals hoping to die in Canada — and in the rest of the world — remains to be determined over the next 12 months.
No one can stop an able-bodied person from ending their life, the case argued, so preventing a terminally ill patient from receiving the help they needed to do so should be considered a discriminatory act. The ruling states that Canadian provinces can no longer “prohibit physician-assisted death” in consenting patients with incurable (if not terminal) diseases that cause “enduring and intolerable suffering.”
This leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and the Supreme Court has given the government one year to hammer out the details before the ban is lifted.
A big question: Will Canada choose to allow assisted suicide, euthanasia or both? And will the country allow nonresidents to take advantage of whichever they offer?
Legal euthanasia allows a doctor to administer lethal drugs to a patient (or deprive them of those necessary to their survival) in order to quicken their death.
U.S. citizens have already participated in “suicide tourism.” Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer, famously moved to Oregon from California so that she could get help ending her own life.
But Canada is unlikely to become the next go-to destination unless it promises less red tape than U.S. states, where residency is easy to obtain. And then there’s Switzerland: A recent study found that 611 non-Swiss individuals from 31 countries visited Switzerland to die between 2008 and 2012.
While several European countries allow euthanasia, assisted suicide or both, Switzerland has the most lenient right-to-die laws of all. It’s the only country that doesn’t require any specific criteria for suicide-aid candidates. So organizations are allowed to provide drugs and counseling to help anyone end their life.
