FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Montreal, July 17, 2014 – As announced
when Bill 52, An Act respecting
end-of-life care, was adopted,
the citizen movement Living with Dignity (LWD) and the Physicians’ Alliance
against Euthanasia (the Alliance), representing together over 650 physicians
and 17,000 citizens, have today filed a lawsuit before the Superior Court of Quebec
in the District of Montreal. The lawsuit requests that the Court declare
invalid all the provisions of An Act
respecting end-of-life care that deal with “medical aid in dying”, a
euphemism used to describe euthanasia. This Act not only allows certain
patients to demand that a physician provoke their death, but also grants physicians
the right to cause the death of these patients by the administration of a lethal
substance.
The Alliance and LWD are challenging the
constitutionality of those provisions in the Act which are aimed at
decriminalizing euthanasia under the euphemism “medical aid in dying”. Euthanasia constitutes a culpable homicide under the Criminal Code. It
is a subject-matter which is at the core of the exclusive federal
legislative power in relation to criminal law and Quebec therefore does
not have the power to adopt these provisions.
In addition, the impugned provisions unjustifiably infringe the rights to life and to security of patients guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and
the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and
Freedoms. They further infringe the right to the safeguard of the dignity
of the person, which is also protected by the Quebec Charter.
In view of the gravity of the situation and the urgent need to protect all vulnerable persons in Quebec, the Alliance and LWD request an accelerated management of the case in order to obtain a judgement before the expected coming into force of the Act on December 10, 2015.
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Sources: The citizen network Living with Dignity (http://vivredignite.org/en/) and the Physicians’
Alliance against euthanasia (http://totalrefusal.blogspot.ca).
For more information or to organize an interview,
please contact:
Nicolas Steenhout
Director General
Living with Dignity
info@vivredignite.org
438-931-1233
Nicolas Steenhout
Director General
Living with Dignity
info@vivredignite.org
438-931-1233
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