Canada

Canadian journal calls for curbs on aborting girls

Michael Cook | 18 January 2012

After a long legal and political debate leading up to a decision by its Supreme Court in 1988, Canada has ended up as one of the few nations in the world without an abortion law. About 100,000 abortion are performed each year. But now the Canadian Medical Association Journal is calling for strict limits on abortion – if the mother wants to abortion a child simply because it is a girl.

Canadian expert report endorses euthanasia

Michael Cook | 19 November 2011

A lengthy report on euthanasia commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) has strongly recommended the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia. The six-person panel argues that this is consistent with Canadian values, and will not lead to an increase in elder abuse or a slippery slope from voluntary to non-voluntary euthanasia.

British Columbia’s supreme court to hear assisted suicide challenge

Michael Cook | 19 November 2011

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has launched a constitutional challenge to a ban on assisted suicide. It is representing several plaintiffs, including Gloria Taylor, a 63-year-old woman with the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Sperm donors father colossal families in Canada, US

Jared Yee | 15 October 2011

Experts are concerned about lax regulations on sperm donation in Canada and the US where some men have anonymously fathered dozens of children.

Question marks on surrogacy in Canada

Jared Yee | 23 September 2011

A handful of widely-publicised surrogacy cases in Canada has sparked worry about the commercialisation of baby-making.

20-year-old surrogate mother abandoned

Jared Yee | 16 September 2011

When Cathleen Hachey, 20, offered to be a surrogate for a British couple, she could never have foreseen that they would abandon her by text message 27 weeks in to the pregnancy.

Detecting hidden consciousness in vegetative state patients

Jared Yee | 09 September 2011

Some patients previously thought to be unconscious are in fact aware of themselves and their surroundings, according to Dr Adrian Owen of the University of Western Ontario.

Ontario introduces “hospital secrecy clause”

Jared Yee | 17 June 2011

The Ontario government plans to exempt hospitals from responding to freedom-of-information requests related to quality of care.

Donor anonymity disappears in British Columbia

Michael Cook | 21 May 2011

IVF sperm and egg donors can no longer be anonymous in the Canadian province of British Colombia, a judge has ruled. It was a victory for Olivia Pratten, a 29-year-old journalist.

Canadian doctors debate transplants for foreigners

Michael Cook | 30 April 2011

“Baby Joseph” returns to Canada, breathing on his own

Jared Yee | 28 April 2011

Joseph Maraachli, the boy whose family refused to accept a Canadian hospital’s recommendation to remove his breathing tube and allow him to die, is now breathing on his own without the assistance of a mechanical ventilator.

Food and water are medical treatments, say Canadian ethicists

Michael Cook | 09 April 2011

It is ethical to withhold and withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) from children, says the Canadian Paediatric Society. In a bioethics position statement, it argues that medically assisted food and water are medical treatment, not an essential part of humane care.

Canadian baby at heart of ethics debate goes to US for surgery

Jared Yee | 25 March 2011

Canadian doctors wouldn’t treat him

Canada bans assisted suicide ad

Jared Yee | 02 October 2010

Exit International banned again

Resignations plague Canada’s fertility watchdog

Jared Yee | 04 June 2010

Agency still toothless

Canadian expert calls for end to ban on gay blood donors

Michael Cook | 28 May 2010

Call for Canada to reform ‘unfair’ policy in medical journal

Assisted suicide rejected by Canadian parliament

Michael Cook | 24 April 2010

Soundly defeated by 228-59 margin

Canadian docs cut the Gordian knot of euthanasia

Michael Cook | 02 April 2010

Just drop the word

Ontario health privacy compromised by memory stick loss

Michael Cook | 22 January 2010

Privacy commissioner orders shake-up

Another blast at “human dignity”

Michael Cook | 07 January 2010

A straw in the wind for Canada’s euthanasia debate?