Canada court rules doctors can help ill patients die

The judgment says the current ban infringes on the life, liberty and security of individuals under Canada’s constitution. It had been illegal in Canada to counsel, aid or abet a suicide, an offense carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

The decision reverses a ruling the Supreme Court made in 1993. At the time, the court was primarily concerned that vulnerable people could not be properly protected under physician-assisted suicide.