In our analysis of this issue, the Carter decision left room for both self-administered and physician-administered death. We looked at a number of jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions provided self-administered death. One of the limitations of this approach, of a self-administered death only, is that for those who might not be physically able to self-administer, then that actually creates a barrier to access. On the other hand, a physician-assisted death—that is, a physician-administered death—was very clearly identified in other jurisdictions as desirable. We certainly saw that they were quite successful in introducing both.
There will be some Canadians who will say, “I would really like to take ownership of this particular decision. I would like to be able to determine the time of my own death, and I would like to be able to administer it.” Others will say, “If I am suffering intolerably and I'm unable to administer, I would like someone to help me. I would like to be competent. I would like it to be at the time of my choosing. I need help in order to be able to do that.”
I think we owe it to Canadians to be able to offer both of those options to them.