Robert Latimer

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Robert Latimer (born March 13, 1953) is a Canadian farmer sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for ten years for the murder of his daughter Tracy (born November 23, 1980) which occurred on October 24, 1993. This case sparked a significant national controversy on the ethics of euthanasia, and two Supreme Court decisions, R. v. Latimer (1997), on section 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and later R. v. Latimer (2001), on cruel and unusual punishments under section 12 of the Charter.

Robert Latimer ended his daughter's life because she was in incurable, excruciating and almost unrelenting pain. At the time of her death, Tracy was twelve years of age, weighed thirty-eight pounds, was quadraplegic and bedridden most of the time, suffered five to six seizures daily, and had the mental capacity of a three to four month old baby.^[1]

In describing Tracy's medical condition, Dr. Anne K. Dzus, the orthopedic surgeon who performed Tracy's surgeries, stated under oath that, "She had one of the worst forms of cerebral palsy in that she was totally body involved. Her total body was involved from her head right down to her toes, so all four limbs, her brain, her back, everything was involved so she was as severe as they ... in the classification we have for cerebral palsy."^{[citation needed]}

During her lifetime, Tracy had undergone many painful surgeries, including having two steel rods connected to her spine by multiple wires and steel plates which were bolted to the front and back of her spine, plus additional bolts inserted into holes which had been drilled into her pelvic bone. This subsequently caused further severe pain because one of these steel rods had protruded and lodged into her right hip joint. Tracy had also undergone the release (surgical severing) of the tendons at the sides of both knees, plus those tendons connecting her heels and toes.

The next surgery planned for Tracy was to remove her right hip joint and upper femur, leaving her lower leg hanging loose without any connecting bone, in the hopes of reducing the pain in her right hip.^[2] This was not expected to be the end of such surgeries, but if she survived it she could not be given any analgesic stronger than regular strenth Tylenol after her release from hospital; to do so would interfere with her anti-epileptic, anti-convulsant medications, and cause the aspirating of her stomach contents and aspirating pneumonia.^{[citation needed]} These are the facts provided in the sworn testimony of Dr. Dzus and contained in the court transcripts. Dr Dzus, the orthopedic surgeon who advised this surgery, described the pain from this type of surgery as "incredible". She also stated under oath that further major surgeries would be required.

The crown argued "Tracy enjoyed outings, one of which was to the circus, where she smiled when the horses went by. She also responded to visits by her family, smiling and looking happy to see them. "There is no dispute that through her life, Tracy at times suffered considerable pain. As well, the quality of her life was limited by her severe disability. But the pain she suffered was not unremitting, and her life had value and quality."^[3]

In their written decision, the Supreme Court of Canada stated, "There was evidence that Tracy could have been fed with a feeding tube into her stomach, an option that would have improved her nutrition and health, and that might also have allowed for more effective pain medication to be administered. The Latimers rejected the feeding-tube option as being intrusive and as representing the first step on a path to preserving Tracy's life artificially."^[4] However,contrary to the decision reached by the Supreme Court, medical opinion as opposed to legal opinion, is that the administration of strong analgesic drugs through a feeding tube, which would be surgically inserted into her stomach, would in no way mitigate the harmful and potentially lethal effects of these drugs.^{[citation needed]} No one, including the Supreme Court, has ever identified this "more effective pain medication" they referred to in their written decision.^{[citation needed]}

Supporters of Latimer say that since this was a mercy killing he should not be punished as harshly as those committing common murders. (The minimum penalty for second degree murder in Canada is life imprisonment, with parole eligibility beginning after 10 years). The jury who heard the case recommended that he should spend one year in jail^{[citation needed]}; the trial judge agreed but added one year under house arrest at the Latimer family farm near Wilkie, Saskatchewan^{[citation needed]}. Chief Justice of Saskatchewan, the Honourable Edward D. Bayda, had also supported a constitutional exemption to the minimum ten year sentence in this case^{[citation needed]}.

Some disability rights advocates, who acted as negative interveners at Latimer's Supreme Court of Canada hearing, argued that killing a severely disabled child like Tracy should carry the same penalty as killing a non-disabled child. In their opinion, to do otherwise would devalue the lives of disabled people and also increase the risk of more such killings by their caregivers. Religious groups representing the Roman Catholic church and the Evangelical church in Canada also appeared as negative interveners.

Robert Latimer began serving his sentence on January 18, 2001 and is currently incarcerated in a minimum-security facility on Vancouver Island. He will be eligible for day parole on December 8, 2007 and full parole on Dec. 8, 2010.

Robert Latimer is the only person in Canadian history to be sentenced to life imprisonment for a mercy killing.^{[citation needed]}