Would you help someone end their life (if you believed they were of sound mind) if they were in extreme pain (whether mentally because of intolerable harassment, or physically)?

Is it possible to set aside any religious doctrine (the belief that only God should determine the time for death) to debate this issue?

Did you know that if someone in Canada performs assisted suicide, they could be jailed for up to 14 years?

Does banning assisted suicide curb the rights of personal liberty?

Assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland (and Oregon).

By the way, Dr. Kevorkian (an American) was released from jail in June of 2007 and has no regrets for what he’s done. (He was jailed in 1999, on a second-degree murder conviction, for helping a terminally ill patient to die using his suicide machine.)

And what about the case of Canada’s Robert Latimer who was charged with second-degree murder for gassing to death his disabled quadriplegic daughter in 1993. (Tracy, a twelve-year-old who functioned at the level of a three-month old, had worsening cerebral palsy and Robert said he was trying to spare her years of torture.) He maintains he killed his daughter out of compassion (that “it was the right thing to do” and refuses to acknowledge his actions were a crime and says he doesn’t feel guilty for what he did). Yesterday Latimer, serving a life sentence (and eligible for full parole in 2010), was denied day parole that would have allowed him to be released to a halfway house. The parole board members said Latimer had not gained sufficient insight and understanding of his actions, and recommended that he get counseling. What do you think?

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My Friend
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The unsolved mystery of the death of Cindy James