Medical choices raise issues of human dignity

The principle questions were, was [Tyrell Dueck] able to make his own informed decision about medical intervention and were his parents out of focus, perhaps dangerously so? In a sense, the case is now moot. On the basis of clinical evidence that his cancer had spread, rendering conventional therapies nearly useless, the government withdrew its case. Tyrell and his family have gone to Mexico to pursue the alternative therapies they sought from the beginning. We would never force somebody to accept a medical intervention for a trivial condition. Nor would we force somebody to undertake painful and invasive medical therapies where the chances of success are slight. In the case of Tyrell Dueck, part of the problem was that different people came to different judgements. Significant to decision making was a 65% chance of survival in the face of painful and unpleasant procedures. These procedures, even if effective, would have left Tyrell permanently disabled.