Deciding on Death - (Landmark Cases in Canadian Law) by Kent McNeil & Wayne Sumner (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Examines the legality of assisted suicide in Canada.

Should people have the right to medical assistance in dying? If so, under what conditions? Deciding on Death delves into the legal and political aspects of these controversial questions.

In the early 1990s, Sue Rodriguez unsuccessfully challenged the criminalization of assisted dying. The Supreme Court of Canada subsequently reversed its position in a 2015 case brought by the family of Kay Carter, who had traveled abroad for access to an assisted death. Kent McNeil and Wayne Sumner not only analyze the landmark Rodriguez and Carter decisions but also contextualize them within legal and political history and carry the story forward to the present day.

The legalization of medically assisted dying has finally given many Canadians with incurable medical conditions that cause them intolerable suffering the ability to choose the manner and timing of their death. Over fifteen thousand people per year now pursue this option. This timely book explains how we got here and the decisions that still lie ahead.

Review Quotes

"Deciding on Death brings out the extent to which the legal development of medically assisted dying in Canada is both dependent on particularities of the Canadian legal and social context, and on the same basic ethical considerations that determine the discussion everywhere."-- "Govert den Hartogh, author of What Kind of Death: The Ethics of Determining One's Own Death"

"McNeil and Sumner masterfully map thirty-five years of motley forces shaping Canadian MAiD jurisprudence. This volume not only delineates the complete legal history of MAiD in Canada but also comprehensively integrates influential international developments in end-of-life decision-making."-- "Thaddeus Pope, professor of law and bioethics, Mitchell Hamline School of Law"

"To understand why we are where we are in relation to medical assistance in dying, it is crucial to understand where we came from. Deciding on Death, the most thorough and engaging review of the field that I have ever read, provides that understanding. This exceptional book will be of great use not only to Canadians but also others around the world seeking accurate and helpful lessons from the Canadian experience of MAiD."-- "Jocelyn Downie, professor emeritus, Faculties of Law and Medicine, Dalhousie University"

About the Author

Kent McNeil is distinguished research professor emeritus at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. He is the author of numerous books on the rights of Indigenous peoples, including Emerging Justice? Essays on Indigenous Rights in Canada and Australia, Flawed Precedent: The St. Catherine's Case and Aboriginal Title, and Common Law Aboriginal Title. He is an honorary member of the Indigenous Bar Association and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. Wayne Sumner is professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Abortion and Moral Theory, The Moral Foundation of Rights, Assisted Death: A Study in Ethics and Law, and Physician-Assisted Death: What Everyone Needs to Know. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.