Henry,
the reality in Canada by now is a different one. Quite a few mercy killing
cases happened in the last couple of years and the call to legalize
compassionate homicide becomes louder and louder.
In none of the cases e.g. Latimer was the sanctity of life ethic used in
the judgement.
Again there are many reasons why someone can oppose for example
compassionate homicide. Sanctity of life is one but equal protection in
front of the law or anti discrimination are other reasons. And so
different groups can focuss on different arguments which all would lead to
the same end result. Canada is one of the few countries which want's to
put an eugenic gentechnology bill into place. And so on . The situation
for disabled people in regards to Bioethical issues is not very good in
the moment. And you will not solve the problems by just focussing on
sanctity of life
Cheers
Gregor
On Sun, 5 Sep 1999, Henry Cullihall wrote:
>
>
> CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LANDMARKS
> 1983
> A landmark case for the rights of the
> developmentally disabled, "Re: R.D",
> decides that a young boy named Stephen
> Dawson should not be denied a
> life-saving operation although his parents
> argued against him having it. The
> court saw the "sanctity of life" as the
> predominant value to be embodied in this
> decision. This decision strengthened the
> rights of all disabled people.
>
> Another disability rights case was "Clark v.
> Clark" which involved a person
> with cerebral palsy who asserted the right
> to live freely outside an institutional
> setting. The Court found him to be mentally
> competent and capable of living
> independently despite his physical
> condition. This decision reinforced the right
> to personal autonomy for people with severe
> physical disabilities.
>
> The Canadian Human Rights Comission Page
> http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/Promotion/Hydra/landmark.asp?l=e
>
>
Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Research Scientist at the
Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Faculty of Medicine
and Adjunct Assistant Professor
at the Dept. of Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies
Faculty of Education
both University of Calgary
Phone 1-403-220-5448
Fax 1-403-283-4740
eFax 1-603-761-3704
e-mail [log in to unmask]
webpage: http://www.thalidomide.ca/gwolbring
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