In the end, whether we decide as a nation to allow it, or we don't, it's clear something has to be done to help ease suffering and ensure Canadians get the care they need.
Quebec is reopening a long time debate that has stirred plenty of controversy across the country and it's not a topic that's going to see everyone in agreement at this point in time either. "Right to die" legislation is back on the table and if the province of Quebec gets its way, "human euthanasia" will become legal. If the bill passes, it will be the first of its kind in Canada.
If you ask me, if a person is slowly dying, suffering, in constant pain with no way to find relief, why can't they have the option of going quietly? There would have to be rules of course and it's not something to be taken lightly but that's all a part of the proposed plan.
"I think we do need to move forward with this. Because there is a small subset of people who really do have horrendous pain and suffering and who really want to no longer be living," says Dr. Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist with the University of Toronto who specializes in end-of-life decision-making adding, if legislation passes, doctors who aren't comfortable with the concept should have the choice to opt out. And I agree.
He also says there would need to be strict rules. The proposed legislation would apply only to patients over the age of 18 who are suffering from a terminal disease. They must also be suffering from "constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain which cannot be relieved. The patient would also have to state their intention to die in writing, have a doctor agree, and then have a second doctor confirm medically aided death is the only way to end the patient's suffering.
It seems reasonable to me but if this doesn't pass, then at the very least we need to be looking at current palliative care practices.
"In Canada, we're not providing fabulous end-of-life care. We need to do so much better..." adds Bowman and others agree. Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition who opposes the bill, says that what's really needed in Canada is improvements to the country's palliative-care system. "People don't want to be suffering or in significant pain and that's what we should be looking at. That's what palliative care is supposed to be and we need better palliative care..."
Whatever route we take, we know death is inevitable and a reality we will all face, would you rather go peacefully or in misery?
