The Supreme Court of Canada by striking down laws prohibiting euthanasia and assisted suicide have created confusion, anxiety and uncertainty.
Prime Minister Trudeau has not paid attention to those who have experience where euthanasia and assisted suicide are the law of the land.
Ethics professor Theo Boer who was responsible for drafting the initial Dutch legislation now says that they were terribly wrong, and regrets ever have gone there. It started with allowing euthanasia for only the terminally ill. In less than 15 years, it now includes the depressed, chronically ill, the disabled, those who are tired of life, even children qualify.
Safeguards are an illusion. They are routinely broken, and challenged in court for being too restrictive. The line in the sand gets washed away.
No where else in the world where it’s legal to kill patients do physicians have to comply, or refer for the deadly act. Bill C-14 would compel them to do just that even if it goes against their moral and ethical conviction. How would we protect the elderly from abuse, the bill says anyone can sign the death request if the person requesting it is not capable of signing, as long as the substitute signer is over 18? Who would know if the inheritance was wanted sooner than later?
Instead of court and government-sanctioned death we need improved access to hospice and palliative care.
Hildegard Krieg
