When Bloc Québécois MP, Francine Lalonde (La Pointe-de-I’lle), tabled her euthanasia bill in Parliament on May 13, 2009, she claimed that abuses and the “hypothetical slippery slope” did not occur in the three European Union countries (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg) and two U.S. states (Washington and Oregon) that have legalized assisted suicide. Her statement was wildly inaccurate.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands has had 30 years’ experience with assisted suicide. Initially, it was supposed to end the life of only consenting adults who were terminally ill. The reality of what happened in regard to the Netherlands’ assisted suicide law is a warning. The law in the Netherlands has degenerated to become a sad testimony of what can happen to human life once a nation steps onto the slippery slope of assisted suicide. The Netherlands' law has now been stretched to include assisted suicide for many other individuals, including:
Competent adults with incurable illnesses or disabilities although not terminally ill;
Competent adults who are depressed, but not physically ill;
Incompetent adult patients, such as those with Alzheimers and, therefore, unable to give a valid consent. In fact, over 500 (and possibly many more) adults a year die by way of euthanasia who were not mentally competent, and did not give their consent, but have been put to death;
Infants if their suffering is “intolerable or incurable”;
Children aged 12 to 16 years may die by assisted suicide with their parents’ consent, and if over 16 years old, may give their own consent for assisted suicide;
Switzerland
The Swiss organization, Dignitas, assists suicides for those supposedly terminally ill, even if they are not Swiss residents. Many, however, in fact, do not have terminal or severe illnesses. Dignitas recently applied for legal permission to provide assisted suicide for a B.C. couple, George and Betty Coumbias, both 73 years of age. The husband suffers from serious heart disease; the wife is healthy but wants to die with her husband. In her words, “I don’t think I can face life without George”. If the requested permission is granted, all those afraid, or tired of living, will become possible assisted suicides under Switzerland’s assisted suicide law.
There are three major reasons why individuals seek assisted suicide. They are:
fear of pain and suffering;
fear of loneliness and isolation; and
fear of death (which is odd since they are seeking death – but they think it is not as formidable if they can choose the timing and circumstances).
How much more compassionate is it to eliminate these fears by medication, companionship and counselling rather than eliminating the person? Refusal to pass an assisted suicide law would also go a long way to preventing yet another fear – for those who are living under a legalized assisted suicide law who don’t want to die when they enter a hospital. They have a genuine and overwhelming fear that when a physician enters their hospital room that his presence means termination, not treatment.
MP Lalonde’s Death with Dignity Bill
So, what does MP Lalonde's assisted suicide bill provide us? It allows a “medical practitioner” (not necessarily a physician) to assist in the death of a person who is “apparently lucid”. (What does this mean? Frankly, we think anyone who supports assisted suicide is not “lucid”!) It all depends on how this term is interpreted and for what purpose. The person seeking assisted suicide must be a consenting person 18 years or older and he or she must:
experience severe physical or mental pain (depression) without prospect of relief; or
be dying from a terminal illness (but there is no definition of terminal illness).
How does one determine “no prospect” of relief from physical or mental pain? How about medication and counselling?
Further, the language of the bill does not make clear whether another individual may assist a medical practitioner to assist in the suicide, e.g. how about your nephew who is tired of waiting around to inherit your estate and wishes to “assist” in your suicide? The medical practitioner is defined as “a person duly qualified by provincial law to practice medicine”. Does this include your podiatrist or dermatologist? The bill does require that all requests for assisted suicide should be “free of duress”. But what about those vulnerable people who feel pressure to choose death because they believe they are a burden to their family financially or emotionally? Our health care facilities are already under strain caused by an aging population. Will health care providers be constantly under pressure to terminate life? Some may give their consent “without duress” but who will know this for certain?
This is MP Lalonde’s third attempt to bring in a bill on assisted suicide. Her husband, Guy Lamarche is the communications director of the euthanasia lobby group “L’Association québécoise pour le droit de mourir dans la diqnité”. Ms Lalonde herself has cancer. Is she feeling subtle pressure or duress to relieve her husband of his burden? Who knows her “private” reasons or “duress” for this bill?
Ms Lalonde’s bill is number 42 in the private members bill order of precedence. Unless an election is unexpectedly called, the assisted suicide bill will be debated on second reading this fall. If it passes second reading, it then goes to the Justice Committee for review and then is returned to the House of Commons for final debate and vote. We hope this bill will not get that far.
MP’s must know that assisted suicide is unacceptable to Canadians. This country has enough problems without dispatching citizens to their death on request. Let us assist them with the love and compassion provided by palliative care, rather than killing them off by way of assisted suicide.
Please write to:
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
The Honourable Robert Nicholson
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street(Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0H8
Fax: 613-954-0811
Your MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
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