Biomedical Ethics: Sue Rodriguez Physician-Assisted Suicide

Biomedical Ethics: Sue Rodriguez: Physician-Assisted Suicide
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Biomedical Ethics: Sue Rodriguez: Physician-Assisted Suicide
Introduction
In the wake of 1990s, a 42-year old woman, Sue Rodriguez, applied to the courts, opposing the Criminal Code section 241 (b) of the constitution that criminalized assisted suicide (Beaudoin, 2016). Rodriguez had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), untreatable and rare neurological condition affecting the nerve cells that coordinate the voluntary muscle movement. The progressive condition renders the affected patients to lose the ability to walk, chew, and talk and this gets worse as they age. In Rodriguez v British Columbia (Attorney General), Rodriguez argued that the section violated her rights to liberty, life and security under section 7 of the Charter in a manner that construed the fundamental principles of justice (Chan & Somerville, 2016). Also, she posted that the prohibition of physician-assisted suicide violated section 12 and 15 of the provision against discrimination and cruel and unusual punishment and treatment (Chan & Somerville, 2016). Generally, Ms. Rodriguez argued the section 241(b) violated her constitutional rights by barring her to die at the moment and manner in which she wanted. On September 30, 1993, the Supreme Court’s 5-4 majority ruled against Rodriguez’s application, upholding that section 241(b) did not violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and was thus constitutional. However, Rodriguez had to commit suicide in February 1994 through an anonymous physician before NDP MP Svend Robinson who worked to serve her wish. Later in 2015, the Supreme Court made a unanimous decision to strike down the provision and allow physician-assisted suicide and officially legalizing assisted suicide through the passing of the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Act on June 17, 2016.
Ethical Issues in the Case
In recent years, the calls to legalize doctor-suicide have been on the increase the public interest in the subject has intensified in the face of ethical prohibitions on the practice. Individuals are often concerned about the manner in which they will die, and the emphasis by the society and the medical fraternity on cure and intervention has sometimes been pursued at the expense of decent end-of-life care. Some have strongly advocated for physician-assisted suicide by autonomy and thus demanded that the practice should be legalized. The American College of Physician (ACP) supports patient-centered care and has been keen to listen to both views, including those who desire to take charge on when and how to die (Sulmasy & Mueller, 2017). The ACP believes that those arguments against the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide are the most compelling by clinical practice, substantive ethics, policy, and other concerns. In general, the ACP does not support the legality of physician-assisted suicide as it interferes with the patient-physician relationship and the general professional ethics in the society. This practice is thought to alter the role of a medical practitioner in the society and the responsibilities of medical science regarding the duties of a physician to ...