Watch above: The Supreme Court decision to allow doctor-assisted suicide in Canada has stirred debate among professionals. Amber Rockliffe finds out how professors are dealing with the issue when it comes to their students.
SASKATOON – For many generations, medical students have been taught that ending a patient’s life is unconscionable. But the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on physician-assisted suicide has changed that.
READ MORE: Supreme Court strikes down Canada’s assisted suicide laws
The University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine’s ethics course will have to be expanded, according to department head Dr. Preston Smith.
He said faculty members have been circulating emails and preparing to teach students how to help patients take their own lives.
“We’ll have to probably spend more time with students on the ethics of how to help families with these decisions,” Smith said.
He explained students will have to be taught to ask some very important questions.
“Questions such as ‘Do you know for sure that the person is truly happy that this is the way they want to go? Are you sure there’s no coercion?’,” he explained.
READ MORE: Sask. doctors continue ‘right to refuse’ debate
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan is discussing a draft policy that would give doctors the right to refuse care based on ethical or religious grounds. Smith said many questions about how assisted dying will be taught hinge on that decision.
“I think people’s biggest concern at the moment is more the unknown, about how it’s going to be implemented,” he explained.
He said many students have voiced concerns about the ruling, and hope they will be given the right to choose whether or not they help end a patient’s life.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons’ draft policy has been circulated to its members, and will be voted on at its next meeting.
Comments