Assisted Suicide news: Canada court allows doctor-assisted suicide

The highest court of Canada has allowed consenting adults with incurable diseases to exercise their right to ask a doctor to help them die.

In a unanimous decision, Canada's Supreme Court reversed an earlier ruling made in 1993, which imposed a ban on doctor-assisted suicide.

According to a report by BBC News, Canada's high court ruled that the ban on doctor-assisted suicide impinges on Canadians' rights.

The court decided that the right to life, as enshrined in Canada's Charter, does not require an absolute ban on dying with the assistance of a doctor.

"This would create a 'duty to live,' rather than a 'right to life,' and would call into question the legality of any consent to the withdrawal or refusal of lifesaving or life-sustaining treatment. An individual's choice about the end of her life is entitled to respect," Canada's Supreme Court said in its ruling.

The decision was prompted by a case filed by a civil rights group on behalf of two women with generative diseases, Kay Carter and Gloria Taylor. They both died before the court handed down its ruling.

An Al Jazeera report said the ruling allowing doctor-assisted suicide is suspended for a year to give Canadian legislators a chance to enact new rules on this matter.

If the government fails to craft the legislation to respond to the ruling, the court's decision will take effect, giving exemptions to physicians who will assist patients who want to die.

Canada's Justice Minister Peter MacKay meanwhile deferred comment on the Supreme Court ruling.

"It has very far-reaching implications so we intend to take the time to look at this decision carefully, thoughtfully," MacKay said in a report by CBC News.