Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Keyword
-
- Ethics (5)
- Canada (4)
- Euthanasia (4)
- Human Rights (4)
- Abortion (3)
-
- Medicine (3)
- Abortion Law and Policy (2)
- Assisted dying (2)
- Death (2)
- Dying (2)
- End of life (2)
- Health (2)
- Law (2)
- Legislation (2)
- Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) (2)
- Physician (2)
- Safe Abortion (2)
- Terminally ill (2)
- Academics (1)
- Access (1)
- Access to Justice (1)
- Access to Knowledge (1)
- Act 39 (1)
- Aid-in-dying (1)
- Assisted Dying (1)
- Assisted Suicide (1)
- C-14 (1)
- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1)
- Carter v Canada (1)
- Chart (1)
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Health Law and Policy
Illness, Injury And Medical Deportations At The Frontier: The Canadian Legal Regime For Health Care Protections For Agricultural Migrant Workers, Constance Macintosh
Illness, Injury And Medical Deportations At The Frontier: The Canadian Legal Regime For Health Care Protections For Agricultural Migrant Workers, Constance Macintosh
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This paper explores how health interests and rights play out in the temporary agricultural worker regime. In particular, it illustrates how a system that–as discussed below–is formally positioned as granting such workers the same rights as nationals, may not in practice provide equivalent or meaningful protections. The assessment is not just about the social exclusion challenges that often undermine the ability or possibility of migrant workers to activate their legal rights (which is the usual critique of why post-national citizenship writing is overly optimistic), but about how the legal and regulatory system itself misses the mark.
A Comparative Analysis Of Voluntariness Safeguards And Review Procedure Under Oregon And The Netherlands' Physician Assisted Dying Laws, Michaela Estelle Okninski
A Comparative Analysis Of Voluntariness Safeguards And Review Procedure Under Oregon And The Netherlands' Physician Assisted Dying Laws, Michaela Estelle Okninski
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article provides a comparative statutory analysis of the requirements for a voluntary decision in a request for physician assisted dying under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act and the Netherlands' Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act. This comparative analysis aims to provide insight into how voluntariness is determined in practice and how the review procedure is conducted, with a view to identifying strengths and limitations within a legislative framework. First, the legislative safeguards aimed at protecting a voluntary decision are discussed. This is followed by an examination of the review procedure. This article concludes by …
Legalizing Assisted Dying: Cross Purposes And Unintended Consequences, Emily Jackson
Legalizing Assisted Dying: Cross Purposes And Unintended Consequences, Emily Jackson
Dalhousie Law Journal
In the UK, assisted dying continues to be unlawful, and pro-legalization campaigners have made use of human rights based applications for judicial review and Private Members Bills in order to try to change the law. Interestingly, however, the proposed statute would not offer an assisted death to many of the litigants who have sought to force Parliament's hand. This article considers whether this a one-off peculiarity, or whether there might be other mismatches between what the law can achieve and what matters most to people who are seeking an assisted death for themselves. It also explores what seems to be …
Physicians' Attitudes, Concerns, And Procedural Understanding Of Medical Aid-In-Dying In Vermont, Teresa Ditommaso, Ari P. Kirshenbaum, Brendan Parent
Physicians' Attitudes, Concerns, And Procedural Understanding Of Medical Aid-In-Dying In Vermont, Teresa Ditommaso, Ari P. Kirshenbaum, Brendan Parent
Dalhousie Law Journal
The general purpose of the current study was to collect data on physicians' attitudes towards Act 39, the medical aid-in-dying act that was legislatively approved in 2013. Given the recent nature of the implementation of Act 39, this is the first such study to be conducted in the State of Vermont. The survey was quantitative in nature and addressed three distinct aspects of legalized prescribing of life-ending medication, these being physicians': (I) attitudes regarding ethics and legality of Act 39, (11)understandings of the policies and procedural requirements under the law, including their belief in legal immunity from penalty, and (I1) …
Foreseeably Unclear: The Meaning Of The "Reasonably Foreseeable" Criterion For Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Kate Scallion
Foreseeably Unclear: The Meaning Of The "Reasonably Foreseeable" Criterion For Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Kate Scallion
Dalhousie Law Journal
Canada's medical assistance in dying legislation contains the eligibility criterion "naturaldeath has become reasonably foreseeable." The phrase "reasonably foreseeable" is unfamiliar and unclear. As a result of ongoing confusion about its meaning, there is reason to be concerned that under- or over-inclusive interpretations of the phrase are adversely affecting access to MAID. With critical interests at stake (eg access to MAiD and potential criminal liability), it is essential that the meaning of the phrase be clarified. Furthermore, the meaning of "reasonably foreseeable" will be at issue in the Charter challenges to the federal MAiD legislation currently before the courts in …
Trying And Dying: Are Some Wishes At The End Of Life Better Than Others?, Oliver J. Kim
Trying And Dying: Are Some Wishes At The End Of Life Better Than Others?, Oliver J. Kim
Dalhousie Law Journal
In the United States, efforts to create a "rightto try," or to provide access for the terminally ill to try experimental drugs, have seen overwhelming success in passing state legislatures. This success provided the foundation for advocates' long-term goal of a federal right to try. Yet proposals ranging from very modest advance-care-planning consultations to the "rightto die,"or medical aid in dying, face steep political challenges despite seeming public support. This paper discusses the legal underpinnings of both "rights" and the current political and policy debate over each. More often than not, these "rights" are grantedthrough legislation rather than judicial decisions, …
Euthanasia By Organ Donation, Michael Shapiro
Euthanasia By Organ Donation, Michael Shapiro
Dalhousie Law Journal
Euthanasia, the administration of therapy designed to hasten death, particularly in patients with intolerable suffering, has been gaining in acceptance in countries around the world, most recently in Canada. Organ donation from deceased organ donors has always been performed under the strictures of the dead donor rule, the requirement that donors be declared dead prior to any organ recovery. Recent scientific and ethical investigations, however, have questioned whether all donors, whether pronounced based on neurologic (brain death) or circulatory criteria are, in fact, dead. One potential approach to this quandary would be to abandon the fiction imposed by the dead …
Questioning Polst: Practical And Religious Issues, Lloyd Steffen
Questioning Polst: Practical And Religious Issues, Lloyd Steffen
Dalhousie Law Journal
The Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) is a one-page transferrable medical chart insert designed to facilitate physician-patient communication about a patient's wishes at the end of life. The document as a chart addition is in widespread use today, but various criticisms have been leveled at POLST, the most serious being that POLST creates a slippery slope to illicit active euthanasia. This article examines the criticisms and finds that they fit two categories, the first being practical implementation problems. These problems are correctable given more and better training of medical care staff. The second and more serious ethical charge …
Interpreting Canada's Medical Assistance In Dying Legislation, Jocelyn Downie, Jennifer A. Chandler
Interpreting Canada's Medical Assistance In Dying Legislation, Jocelyn Downie, Jennifer A. Chandler
Reports & Public Policy Documents
When the Canadian medical assistance in dying (MAiD) legislation came into force in June 2016, it was widely noted that the meaning of some of its key terms and phrases was unclear. For example, questions were immediately raised about the meaning of “incurable illness, disease, or disability,” “advanced state of irreversible decline in capability,” and “natural death has become reasonably foreseeable.” Interpretation challenges are not uncommon with new legislation. However, in the context of something as significant as access to MAiD and potential criminal liability for getting the meaning of the legislation wrong, these challenges must be confronted by those …
Understandings Of Self-Managed Abortion As Health Inequity, Harm Reduction And Social Change, Joanna Erdman, Kinga Jelinska, Susan Yanow
Understandings Of Self-Managed Abortion As Health Inequity, Harm Reduction And Social Change, Joanna Erdman, Kinga Jelinska, Susan Yanow
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This commentary explores how self-managed abortion (SMA) has transformed understandings of and discourses on safe abortion and associated health inequities through an intersection of harm reduction, human rights and collective activism. The article examines three primary understandings of the relationship between SMA and safe abortion: first SMA as health inequity, second SMA as harm reduction, and third SMA as social change, including health system innovation and reform. A more dynamic understanding of the relationship between SMA, safe abortion and health inequities can both improve the design of interventions in the field, and more radically reset reform goals for health systems …
Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights In Canada, Joanna Erdman
Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights In Canada, Joanna Erdman
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This article endeavours to understand the feminist activism from which constitutional abortion rights in Canada were born in the landmark Supreme Court case of R v Morgentaler 1988, and the influence of these rights on continued feminist activism for reproductive justice. Part I reviews abortion practice in the ‘back-alley’ prior to and immediately after the 1969 criminal reform with attention to the direct service activism of liberation feminists in their campaign to repeal the abortion law as a matter of constitutional justice. Part II turns to adjudication in the courts to study how judicial reasoning channelled these constitutional claims, exploring …
Access To Knowledge And The Global Abortion Policies Database, Joanna Erdman, Brooke Johnson
Access To Knowledge And The Global Abortion Policies Database, Joanna Erdman, Brooke Johnson
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Research shows that women, healthcare providers, and even policy makers worldwide have limited or inaccurate knowledge of the abortion law and policies in their country. These knowledge gaps sometimes stem from the vague and broad terms of the law, which breed uncertainty and even conflict when unaccompanied by accessible regulation or guidelines. Inconsistency across national law and policy further impedes safe and evidence‐based practice. This lack of transparency creates a crisis of accountability. Those seeking care cannot know their legal entitlements, service providers cannot practice with legal protection, and governments can escape legal responsibility for the adverse effects of their …
Template Policy Re: Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Publicly-Funded Institutions, Jocelyn Downie
Template Policy Re: Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Publicly-Funded Institutions, Jocelyn Downie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Patients are being denied access to assessments for, and provision of, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in publicly-funded institutions in Canada. Health authorities should implement policies that prohibit forced transfer for MAiD (assessments and provision) unless it can be achieved without undue delay or harm to the patient (as determined by the MAiD Program, not the institution). This is a template policy that health authorities could adopt to ensure access to a legal health service in all publicly-funded institutions (including faith-based institutions) under their authority.
A Critique Of Canadian Jurisprudence On The Therapeutic Privilege Exception To Informed Consent, Michael Hadskis
A Critique Of Canadian Jurisprudence On The Therapeutic Privilege Exception To Informed Consent, Michael Hadskis
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark decisions in Hopp v Lepp and Reibl v Hughes furnished a general analytical framework for informed consent actions that remains fully intact today. This article sets its gaze on a specific aspect of the framework, dubbed “therapeutic privilege,” that permits physicians to deviate from their general duty to disclose material, treatment-related risks to competent patients. Specifically, the privilege allows information about material risks to be withheld or generalized if physicians believe their patients are “unable to cope” with receiving such information. It is argued that the Supreme Court’s terse and vaguely-articulated exception to truth …
An Alternative To Medical Assistance In Dying? The Legal Status Of Voluntary Stopping Eating And Drinking (Vsed), Jocelyn Downie
An Alternative To Medical Assistance In Dying? The Legal Status Of Voluntary Stopping Eating And Drinking (Vsed), Jocelyn Downie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) has received considerable attention from many in the field of bioethics. Philosophers, theologians, lawyers, and clinicians of all sorts have engaged with many challenging aspects of this issue. Public debate, public policy, and the law have been enhanced by the varied disciplinary analyses. With the legalization of MAiD in Canada, some attention is now being turned to issues that have historically been overshadowed by the debate about whether to permit MAiD. One such issue is voluntary stopping eating and drinking (VSED) as an alternative to MAiD. In this paper, I will apply a legal lens …
The Legal Status Of Deep And Continuous Palliative Sedation Without Artificial Nutrition And Hydration, Jocelyn Downie, Richard Liu
The Legal Status Of Deep And Continuous Palliative Sedation Without Artificial Nutrition And Hydration, Jocelyn Downie, Richard Liu
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Deep and continuous palliative sedation combined with the withholding or withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration (collectively termed “PSs̄ANH”) is an important aspect of high-quality end-of-life care. It is one means of alleviating suffering. Unfortunately, the legality of this practice has been under-researched and PSs̄ANH is not yet appropriately regulated in Canada. In this paper, we explore the legal status of PSs̄ANH where it (1) will not hasten death (Type 1 PSs̄ANH); (2) might, but is not certain to, hasten death (Type 2 PSs̄ANH); or (3) is certain to hasten death (Type 3 PSs̄ANH). It is clear that Type 1 …
Access To Knowledge And The Global Abortion Policies Database, Joanna Erdman, Brooke Johnson
Access To Knowledge And The Global Abortion Policies Database, Joanna Erdman, Brooke Johnson
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Research shows that women, healthcare providers, and even policy makers worldwide have limited or inaccurate knowledge of the abortion law and policies in their country. These knowledge gaps sometimes stem from the vague and broad terms of the law, which breed uncertainty and even conflict when unaccompanied by accessible regulation or guidelines. Inconsistency across national law and policy further impedes safe and evidence‐based practice. This lack of transparency creates a crisis of accountability. Those seeking care cannot know their legal entitlements, service providers cannot practice with legal protection, and governments can escape legal responsibility for the adverse effects of their …
Social Science Evidence In Charter Litigation: Lessons From Carter V Canada (Attorney General), Jocelyn Downie
Social Science Evidence In Charter Litigation: Lessons From Carter V Canada (Attorney General), Jocelyn Downie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
In this paper, I offer the reflections of an academic who wandered well out of her wheelhouse. While I have graduate training in both philosophy and law, I am not an expert on the use of social science and humanities evidence in litigation. But, through the course of working on Carter v Canada (Attorney General), I had the opportunity to participate directly in the process of marshalling, preparing, analyzing, and critiquing the evidence. My hope is that, through this paper, I can bring a perspective that may be useful both for practitioners who might (or, I would say, should) be …