Bill C-14: Establishing Balance Between Medical Help & Criminal Code - Research Paper

Introduction

The bill C-14 had the primary objective of establishing the balance among people seeking access to medical help and creating a new amendment concerning criminal code to enable medical and health service providers to provide medical assistance in compromising situations that have a higher probability of losing a life and minimal chances of survival. The primary objective of the paper focuses on Bill C-14, which is Act concerning the criminal codes and making other amendments related to healthcare Acts, most specifically healthcare assistance in dying addressing specific outlined.

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Identifying Information

The Bill C-14 was presented during the First Session of forty -second parliamentary meeting caption 64-65 Elizabeth II in 2015-2016. The bill motion sponsored and moved to the parliament by Hon. Jody Wilson Raybould was the minister for justice and the Attorney General of the federal government of Canada. This bill assented to 17th June 2016 in the house of commons. The motion was tabled by the opposition party led by Arthur Meighen r which was supported by people of common interest.

Summary of the Bill C-14

The amendment of Bill C-14 enactment included numerous criminal codes associated with the various compromising situation related to health service provisions. As stated earlier, Bill C-14 seeks to establish the balance among people seeking access to medical help by specifying the eligibility criterion to protect and permit health practitioners when taking risky decisions to save a life with minimal probability of being exempted from criminal offenses. The new amendment of the bill will help to create new crimes against the medical practitioners who fail to comply with the primary purpose of a medical fraternity or those who try to forge information and destroying a document that is related to medical help in the dying situation. The enactment also established some constitutional amendments to similar Acts to make sure any form of medical assists does not the first result in the loss of life and individual pensions as indicated in the pension Act.

The Opposition and Support of the Bill-14

During the amendment of the Bill C-14 at the House of Common, some members of the opposition party that was classified as the Conservative which was led by Arthur Meighen of which some of its members had supported the bill partially during the first reading based on emergent condition the medical health facility was facing at that moment during the moment and further discussion was allotted to the second reading for the consideration of specific critical issues. During the second and third readings, Pullen argued that the current protection was sufficient enough to safeguard both dying patient and medical physicians, but the opinions of the opposition side changed most explicitly concerning the vague eligibility in accessing some preventive services such as assisted death. Thee members of the parliament, such as Dr. Francine Lemire and religious representatives, the Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

The central pointy of augmenting was based on the emphasis of creating the need for establishing balance protection for both the medical practitioners and an individual seeking medical help. For instance, the issues regarding conscience needed to be provided with more clarifications by showing clear supportive information to indicate the determinant factors that the medical practitioner will have to some decision such as assisted death as a result of patient struggles and severe pain. The was initially note clear enough and seemed to protect one side more effectively.

Interested Groups and Individual Witness

The C-14 law was one of the amendments of the law, which affected the lives of many citizens in a broadways. The messages which were sent court were so powerful. Some months later, after the law was drafted, the government challenged it. The law assisted in dying as the health practitioners helped in the killing of the patients. The bill was interfering with the freedoms and rights of the citizens and, thus, the importance of the government to address the issue. The law was highly criticized as it assisted in the killing of people in the Canadian country. In this case, the focus shall be the role of the interest groups in the protection of human life from any assist from the medical practitioners.

Mr. Ross, who was the chairman of the fellowship in the Christian legal affairs, did not support the bill. The firm has got many layers and serves the interest groups and was against the bill, which had become law. The real question of the interest group in what way was the law able to preserve and protect the value of Canadian people (Tretyakov & Cohen, 2016). The laws, as a matter of fact, portrayed the parliament as helping in committing suicide. The bill should help to protect life but not to undermine the rights of the citizens through indirect killing. In fact, it was viewed as if public health was, in the way of playing a role in committing suicide. It was evident that in some of the health facilities, suicide was allowed as it was already practiced. In this respect, the parliament should prevent the issue of committing suicide rather than promoting it. In Canada, life sanctity is one of the fundamental principles and should not go against them. In this respect, the issue should serve to the best interest of the society as well as serving the medical aspect of the society.

In bill C-14,, it was termed unconstitutional together with condemnation from other people such as British civil liberties. According to the law, there were some conditions to be met for one to qualify for the MAID. One should be eighteen years and more and should have voluntarily requested for the service. According to John Howard Society, the bill patient has the right to agree and deny, but one is not forced but based on one's request. In this case, the society supported the bill as long as the patient was of the idea and the conditions. In this case, the community was in support of the law.

Doob, who was a professor, was consulted on several cases on the crime, which was done openly in the country. He was a professor who had studied psychology together with the law in his career and had been teaching in the University of Toronto. He was against the issue of health practitioners in help in committing suicide (Belanger & Deschamps, 2018). The witness did not support the as evident in many of the groups as it was an issue of contention between the lawmakers and the people through various interest groups and individuals.The witnesses were against the bill as it was against the freedom and right of the people in a great way. The criminal justice community played a vital role in representing the rights and freedoms of the people and the protection of human life. The members played a role by speaking for their people and protecting their rights and liberties.

Assessment and Analysis

As a member of parliament in the House of Commons, I would support this bill as it allows for various exemptions on the deaths done under personal options, other medical officers that may facilitate dying, and to enable other practitioners to assist in the procedure. In cases where the patients may have suffered intensely, they might get the idea about ending their life as the solution to the problem in which they may have. It is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that the mental and physical health of each person is protected at all costs. In the amending of this bill, the clear procedures through this process will be followed with time, and the duties of the medical officers will be stipulated in this law, (Gogolishvili, Globerman, 2017). The bill supports the family and friends of the patients by having them relieved of the suffering and the stress caused by the patient, and in other cases, the families and friends are led to depression by experiencing the procedures through medical help in dying. The discussion of the parties involved in the medical aid on dying makes them more accountable for the processes involved in this act.

The bill also advocates that the patients who select the self-administration of medical help in dying share their strategies and the address information for the medical officer and a relative of a friend to make everyone aware of the planned death. I would also support the bill since it supports the health care officers to provide for the details for the medical assistance procedures. The health officers have to account to the Health Canada through the Canadian Medical assistance in Data Collection Portal for information such as if the death occurred or not in case of a request, the application of the offer, the declining of the request due to ineligibility of the patient, other causes of death, (Queen's Printer For Ontario, 2019). The bill also proposes that the medical officer to have 30 days to file the report as soon as one of the above actions occur. This makes the medical ministry aware of the possible genocides that may happen to create a society that is at free will and is aware of the deaths that may occur with time.

In support of the bill, the federal government of Canada has made commitments in non-lawful measures that support a lot of procedures in health care for the dying persons and situations such as the increase in requests where the mental disorders are the only medical circumstances. The stipulated bill in compliance with the federal and state government will give medical help for dying legislation and in turn, promote the professional duties wanted by the health regulatory colleges. This bill, in turn, will lead to the saving on the cost of administering the cost of medical assistance in dying, whereby the patients that are dying in the hospital or out of the hospital in the society can approach chemists and gets such drugs for free. The medical officers will be obliged by this bill to make plans with the pharmacy in making inquiries about the drugs used for medical assistance in dying.

The bill also supports the application of medical assistance in dying at any place that may be preferred by the patients, whether the hospital, at home, hospice, private care facilities. The medical practitioners can conduct the procedure if the patient that required medical assistance is not able to sign the request, therefore, being signed by another person who knows the nature of the application, for example in cases where the patient may be in a comma hence the behalf of the patient is taken up. The bill also supports the conviction of the medical officer that fails in the administration of the request, including a jail term of not more than 18 months, (Statutes of Canada,2016). The bill also foresees that the regulations on the Ministry of Health are made considering the information that is provided during the requests.

Conclusion

In summary, I would support this bill since it covers most parts of the issues that are involved in the modern-day civilization of deaths of various people under different circumstances. The medical help in dying is a good bill for the government of Canada as it supports agreeable consent, evaluated requests, old minors, and mental disorder assessment and other factors. The law explores the issues the medical officers may encounter when requested to give medical assistance in dying. The Criminal code criteria are maintained, and the medical officers that are involved in the medical aid in dying are ensured that they comply with the state, local and territorial laws and regulations, request evaluations, and the hospital policies, (Falconer et al., 2019). The bill which was lega...