It has been a year and a half since the law passed permitting physician-assisted death in Canada, and more than two since the landmark 2015 Supreme Court case Carter v. Canada, which struck down the Criminal Code’s prohibitions on medically assisted dying. The issue remains fraught with logistical and ethical challenges. Questions swirl about access, cases involving minors or debilitating mental illnesses, and institutions that refuse to provide the service on religious grounds.
Sandra Martin’s award-winning book A Good Death: Making the Most of Our Final Choices explored these thorny questions with depth and nuance. A long-time journalist who has covered arts and other subjects for the Globe and Mail, she has become a leading voice on assisted dying.
Wayne Sumner is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s preeminent moral philosophers. The author of books including Assisted Death: A...
Sandra Martin is a writer and journalist living in Toronto.
Wayne Sumner is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s preeminent moral philosophers. The author of books including Assisted Death: A Study in Ethics and Law, he was an expert witness for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association in its ultimately successful 2011 constitutional challenge to the existing law.
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