Greatest support for doctor-assisted suicide in BC: Poll

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The time could be right for the Federal Liberals to move ahead with a law covering doctor-assisted suicide. A new poll from Insights West shows there is growing support for the idea with eight-in-10 Canadians backing the idea, but with some reservations.

The key is the law would have to reflect the two conditions laid out by the Supreme Court of Canada. The first one is the request for doctor assisted suicide must come from a fully competent person and the second is the person must have a terminal medical condition that causes intolerable suffering.

“I think they look at it as something that is going to go by the safeguards that are required to implement the legislation for those who may require it in the future without opening the door for euthanasia as something people might understand it,” explains pollster Mario Canseco.

He adds we here in BC are most in favour of doctor-assisted suicide at 90 per cent, likely because we’ve been at the forefront of the discussion thanks to a series of court cases.

“Compared to the rest of Canada, perhaps with the exception of Quebec, we have been talking about physician-assisted suicide the longest — more than two decades now — the fact we know a lot about this issue makes us read some of the guidelines that are coming out from the Supreme Court and say it does strike the right balance,” Canseco adds.

When asked about the regulations currently in place in Canada to deal with the issue of doctor-assisted suicide, only 30 per cent of Canadians are “satisfied” while 43 per cent claim to be “dissatisfied” and 27 per cent are unsure.

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