CANADA : Doctor Charged With Aiding in Suicide

A Toronto physician was arraigned in what is believed to be the first case in Canada of a doctor being charged with assisted suicide. Toronto police said Maurice Genereux, 49, was charged with helping an AIDS patient end his life on April 11 in Toronto. Genereux, who treats mainly patients afflicted with AIDS and HIV, was freed on bail and is scheduled to appear in court July 19. He can practice medicine while on bail, but is prohibited from prescribing drugs. There is a century-old prohibition against assisted suicide in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada narrowly upheld the ban after a 1993 challenge led by euthanasia campaigner Sue Rodriguez, who died in 1994 in an assisted suicide.