To the Editor:
The Special Joint committee of the Government of Canada has released its report on “Physician – Assisted Dying” on Feb. 25, “Medical Assistance in Dying,” a patient-centered approach.
This report is deeply disappointing. Canadians, especially those dying or suffering from illness, deserve better. It’s alarming how easily suicide is being offered and respect for life eroded.
There is a serious omission in the report. Where is the plan for protecting the Charter of Rights of Canadians who don’t want to participate in causing patients to die?
Many health-care workers and doctors believe strongly in saving lives and ending suffering – but not in ending lives. Canadians from many ethical traditions just won’t be able to go along with this. Where is there room for them in medical care? No one can ethically be forced to take part in causing their patient to die.
New laws need to ensure their Charter of Rights are protected as well. I’m deeply troubled that the committee disregarded the testimony of so many witnesses who called for conscience protection for health care workers and institutions.
Suicide is not part of health-care. Killing the mentally and physically ill, whether young or aged is contrary to caring for one’s brother or sister. The dignity of the human person and the flourishing of the human community demand, 1) protection and respect for each human life from conception to natural death, and 2) freedom of conscience and religion for each person as well as each institution.
The report also fails to make Palliative Care the high priority many witnesses called for. Unfortunately the report treats palliative care almost as an afterthought. It’s dismaying that a committee would propose assisted suicide as a “choice” to people who are suffering, without a real, effective alternative. What kind of free choice is that?
The committee appears to have made its preference for assisted suicide clear from the start by choosing the words “medical assistance in dying.” Doctors have always assisted people who are dying. That is good palliative care. What they are talking about here is medically causing the patient to die.
The recommendations and the thrust of the report fail to be “patient centred” or to assist and support the dying and the vulnerable. The report’s recommendations are the approach of a throw-away society with no regards for life. This is not the Canada I want.
A concerned citizen,
Theresa Istace,
Weyburn
