Calgary man wins right to assisted death

CALGARY A Calgary-area man on Friday was granted court permission to have a doctor-assisted death, the second time such a case has occurred in Alberta.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sandy Park, after reviewing an affidavit filed by the man, who can’t be identified, granted his doctors a charter exemption to the law prohibiting assisted suicide.

Park imposed a publication ban on information that could identify the man, his family or any health care professionals involved in the procedure, including the two specialists who will assist in his death.

The judge said the applicant met the requirements set down by the Supreme Court in allowing such orders to be made.

“He is a competent adult person,” Park said.

“He clearly consents to the termination of his life; he did so when he was in a competent status,” the judge said.

“He has a grievous and irremedial medical condition and that his present condition is causing and will continue to cause enduring and interminable suffering,” he said.

“His suffering cannot be alleviated in an treatment acceptable to him.”

Lawyer Olivier Fuldauer said while his client’s “illnesses don’t affect his mental capacity, his pain medication does.”

Fuldauer said the man, identifiable only as H.W., whose medical conditions weren’t revealed in court, has resisted taking medication as a result.

“He doesn’t want to be sedated into oblivion,” the lawyer said.

“The applicant has as long and severe a list of difficulties as I would ever hope to see.”

Along with restrictions on publication, Fuldauer also asked Park to conduct the hearing in a closed court.

But the judge denied the application, saying the public has a right to access judicial proceedings.

There was no indication when the individual’s life will be ended, but Park noted it would be in the man’s home.

The order was the second issued by a Calgary judge since the Supreme Court set down criteria for permitting physician-assisted death while Parliament debates legislation to permit it.

A woman suffering ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig ’s disease, was granted permission last month to have two B.C. doctors assist in her death.

The Calgary woman, known only as H.S., wasn’t able to find any Alberta doctors at the time to perform the procedure.

Park ordered the names of the doctors assisting H.W. be protected to prevent them and their families from being harassed.

The federal government introduced proposed legislation Thursday allowing for assisted death without a court exemption.