Maurice Généreux

Maurice Généreux is a Canadian physician who was convicted in 1998 of prescribing medicines to commit suicide with in 1996 to two HIV positive gay men in Toronto, Canada, Mark Jewitt and Aaron McGinn. He was the first doctor in North America to be convicted for assisting a suicide (followed in 1999 by Jack Kevorkian).^[1][2][3][4]

Mark Jewitt took a lethal dose but managed to survive when a friend found him and called the emergency services. Aaron McGinn died in 1996 from sleeping pills that Généreux provided, and Généreux attempted to forge McGinn's death certificate to make it look as if he had died from AIDS rather than sleeping pills. The investigation into Généreux started when a psychiatrist raised doubts about McGinn's death to the chief coroner in Toronto. Following an investigation, Généreux was arrested on 20 June 1996.^[5]

Généreux was sent to prison for two years minus a day and lost his medical license.^[6][7]

According to Ian Dowbiggin, the author of A Concise History of Euthanasia, Généreux's actions revealed an "underground" network of euthanasia provision for AIDS sufferers in Toronto's gay community.^[5]

References

1. ^ "Toronto doctor convicted of assisting suicide". BMJ 316 (7144): 1558. 23 May 1998. http://www.bmj.com/content/316/7144/1558.1.extract. 
2. ^ John Edward Thomas; Wilfrid J. Waluchow (21 May 1998). Well and good: a case study approach to biomedical ethics. Broadview Press. p. 185. ISBN 9781551112060. http://books.google.com/books?id=NFYQhiRijQ4C&pg=PA185. Retrieved 23 June 2011. 
3. ^ Jocelyn Grant Downie (21 June 2004). Dying justice: a case for decriminalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. University of Toronto Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 9780802037602. http://books.google.com/books?id=U9jHbvXU2TMC&pg=PA35. Retrieved 23 June 2011. 
4. ^ Joane Martel (1 October 2002). Le suicide assisté: héraut des moralités changeantes. University of Ottawa Press. pp. 194–195. ISBN 9782760305397. http://books.google.com/books?id=KbfaDu146D4C&pg=PA194. Retrieved 23 June 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Ian Dowbiggin (March 2007). A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780742531116. http://books.google.com/books?id=CNigO7gMGkUC&pg=PA62. Retrieved 23 June 2011. 
6. ^ "Genereux's license revoked". CBC News. 12 March 1998. http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/1998/03/12/genereux980312b.html. 
7. ^ Light sentence disturbs pro-lifers, The Interim, June 1998.

Persondata
Name	Généreux, Maurice
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death