Seeking input on recent Supreme Court ruling

2/11/2015

I am often surprised at the number of different events occurring each week that can pose a challenge to provide a summary given the limited space available in my weekly columns. One topic that I believe is of interest and concern to all Canadians is last week’s Supreme Court Ruling striking down Canada’s existing law against assisted suicide. This is without question a subject that many Canadians have very strong feelings about. It is not uncommon as a Member of Parliament to hear a diversity of views on subjects of this nature. One such citizen who took the time to contact me has presented some serious concerns that I believe we should all be mindful of.

The citizen in question suffers from a very severe physical disability and opposes the legalization of assisted suicide. The reason for this opposition is not based on faith, nor a previous encounter with suicide or hope that a miracle cure will be discovered. The concern from this particular disabled citizen is guilt. As a severely disabled individual, this person relies very heavily on family to serve as specialized care givers. As many will know, providing specialized and end of life care for a severally disabled loved one can be a challenging experience. In this case the constituent who contacted me shared a great love and appreciation for family members in making great sacrifices to help them live a better quality of life.

The concern of this severely disable constituent is that legalized suicide would create an easy option for this person to end their own life with the assistance of a willing doctor. This person expressed a strong will to live. They have no desire to die. Where assisted suicide is a concern to this person is over a profound level of guilt. This guilt comes from the significant ongoing efforts of family members in providing specialized care. As legalized suicide could end the need for that care by not pursuing suicide, this individual would feel intense guilt that they are imposing on loved one’s when another option is available. Suffice to say this was a difficult and emotional conversation and I apologize in advance that I am not relaying this concern in the manner it truly deserves.

I raise this point today as it illustrates a situation of a severely disabled person who does not wish to die but has admitted the guilt of not pursuing suicide to relieve family members from serving as care givers potentially would result in a reluctant suicide. This is not a situation I believe any Canadian would welcome and is one we should be mindful of in this discussion. I can also appreciate that there are other situations and different perspectives in this conversation that are deserving of consideration. As I believe all citizens share concerns on this subject I welcome your views, opinions and experiences. I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or toll-free at 1-800-665-8711.

6 Comments

R. Conci

2/12/2015 06:26:50 pm

this is probably the most serious and most overlooked case in point against the legalization of euthanasia/assisted-suicide. I know many persons who would fall into this category and believe the cost to them would be too great, all on its own, to justify the legalization in question.

J Sevy

2/19/2015 12:37:41 pm

I try to stay out of your face most of the time, Dan, but this issue is too dangerous to ignore. From the standpoint of personal dignity and right-to-die, it is completely un-necessary. If your doctor gives you a prescription of morphine and advises you, "Now, Dan, be careful with these. If you take 10 at a time, they will kill you," he has at once ethically warned you of danger and effectively assisted you to end your own life - if you choose.

The Supreme court oversteps it bounds, off a cliff, to assume it has the authority to legalize the taking of another's innocent life. I believe that this ruling is a dangerous midpoint milestone down the road to brutal tyranny - the type of elected organized crime seen in Nazi Germany and other totalitarian states. That is history; let's not repeat it. Please protect Canada and innocent Canadians, the old, the helpless, the infirm and disabled, by overturning this ruling.

Under Obama, the United States already mandates regular, mandatory suicide education for various groups. Is Canadian law in some sort of competition with him to reduce the government's unfunded social safety net liabilities?

(This is based on the email sent to Mr. Albas earlier today.)

Sharon

3/17/2015 10:21:31 am

So far, comments border on extreme selfishness. Is someone's guilt somehow more important than someone's right to choose to end their suffering? How can you possibly equate the two? My mother was a vegetable for 8 years in a care home and she was in constant pain even though she could not move or speak or recognize anyone. We had the agony of seeing our mother like this all those years. It is inherited. I want the right to end my life the day that I can no longer function. We finally had to starve her to death and it took 3 weeks of being pumped full of morphine and other painkillers, writhing in agony, for her to die. Tell me this is humane? One blessed injection could have prevented years of pain and weeks of agony for mom and all of us. The savings that would have been gained in health care costs likely border on hundreds of thousands. You had better not remove my right to end my life when my time comes. Stop being so selfish. And stop calling it "suicide". It is the assistance of the medical establishment in dying. Assisted dying, not assisted suicide. That misnomer is why there is so much opposition.

J Sevy

3/18/2015 11:23:17 am

If a doctor writes you a prescription of morphine and advises you, "Now, Sharon, be careful with these. If you take 10 at a time, they will kill you," he has at once ethically warned you of danger and effectively assisted you to painlessly end your own life - if you choose. From the standpoint of personal dignity and right-to-die, your rights were already in place before this vicious supreme court decision.

Giving for-hire doctors and government bureaucrats authority to take the lives of innocent people is suicidal. The supreme court did not add to your rights, but took one of the primary rights in this country away from the common people.

J Sevy

3/18/2015 11:43:36 am

I just read Sharon's comment again. It begins with the question, "Is someone's guilt somehow more important than someone's right to choose to end their suffering?" The suggestion of guilt raises a question: If one's mother cannot move or speak, who would authorize the taking of her life?

My family authorized the hospital, in accordance with his clearly written living will, to remove all life support and feeding from his comatose, paraplegic body. He could not move or speak. As the eldest child, I had to consider this carefully, and came to the conclusion that even though it was possible that I could be prosecuted, found guilty and punished for my pivotal part in this decision, it was worth taking the worst imaginable punishment myself rather than ignoring his instructions and leaving him in misery. I love him, and would certainly do this again without guilt - only gratitude.

Sharon

3/18/2015 01:27:13 pm

Did it take your loved one 8 years of agony and suffering and 3 weeks of writhing in pain and thousands of dollars worth of medications and thousands of dollars worth of morphine and fentanyl , not to mention thousands of dollars worth of unnecessary labor, to die?

You make it sound as though doctors will just up and decide to kill people. That is not what is going to happen. Those who want the choice to end their suffering will have the right to do so. What right do you have to force anyone to endure pain and suffering?

In fact it was a doctor who ordered the with holding of food and water, who prescribed the gallons of morphine. He could do that because the patient was having trouble swallowing without choking. When this legislation is in place, he will be able to legally administer a medication that will avoid the three weeks of starvation.

Try to put yourself in place of my mother and imagine that you will be going through it in a few short years yourself. My grandmother also went through the same thing. And so did her mother. And so do millions of others. You'll be lucky if you get to avoid it.

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Seeking input on recent Supreme Court ruling

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