Has the Supreme Court of Canada stepped beyond its limits in mandating that our Canadian government implement physician-assisted death? One problem is the inclusion of the word “physician.”
An alternative is offered by those who argue that a separate group of professionals/technicians (separate from physicians and nurses) need to be trained for the task of assisting people to die prematurely.
Otherwise, we end up with the following types of scenarios: One day in a Burnaby, BC, care centre, an 89-year-old female resident has a consultation with her doctor. Thanks to the doctor ensuring she has proper levels of pain medication, her mind is generally clear and her pain is at a tolerable level. She is able to go for strolls outside with her walker (with a companion) and she can sleep fairly well at night.
About two months later she sees her doctor approaching again. The doctor has been one of her friends, and his visits have always made her feel cared for and special. She is aware of the physician-assisted death mandate, and in her mind, it has already been implemented.
She wonders to herself, “Could this be a different kind of visit today? Am I becoming too much of a burden to my family?” Her early stage of dementia has affected her sense of time and short-term memory, but has not yet taken away her keen wit and ability to ask uncomfortable questions.
With complete seriousness, she asks, “Doctor, why have you come today? Is it to promote my health or to end my life?”
Let’s not confuse the role of our Canadian physicians between promoting life on the one hand and, on the other hand, deliberately ending a life prematurely.
Let’s urge our legislators to remove the word “physician” from physician-assisted death and include, instead, another class of professionals/technicians, trained to deal with requests for assisted death. Then, in the future, when we see a physician we will not have any ambiguity about his or her role and limits.
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto Thomas Collins has said that about 5,000 Catholic physicians in his diocese alone will not refer patients for euthanasia.
Some insist that such doctors should be mandated to refer or else. A better way is to leave Canadian physicians out of the assisted-death picture altogether.
New Westminster, BC, resident Don McCallum visits Powell River several times a year with his wife, a physician who does relief work in the area.
