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Margaret Somerville, LLB, DCL, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Notre Dame Australia, in a Feb. 19, 2016 article, "Next, Limit the Harm: Proposals for Canada's New Euthanasia Law," available at mercatornet.com, stated:

“I want to put on the record that I believe euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (what the Supreme Court of Canada calls physician-assisted death/dying) are inherently wrong and should remain criminally prohibited.

It seems, however, to be a foregone conclusion that Parliament will legalize euthanasia (a word I use to refer to both euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide), so the issue is how to limit the harms and risks of that.

So, in order to do the least damage possible to important shared societal values, especially respect for human life, and to vulnerable Canadians of legalizing euthanasia, I am willing to provide some recommendations for limiting its harms and risks…

Euthanasia should be restricted to people who are terminally ill (a life expectancy of less than four weeks) from a physical illness, disease or disability and experiencing extreme physical suffering.”

Feb. 19, 2016