Editor, The News:
Re: A sensible and humane decision (Health Care, June 22).
I read, with much interest, what former Maple Ridge family physician Dr. Marco Terwiel had to say regarding the recent B.C. Supreme Court decision regarding Gloria Taylor’s request to have the right to “doctor assisted suicide,” should she so desire.
Justice Lynn Smith, in a blatant example of judicial activism, is attempting to subvert Canadian Parliament and the Supreme Court of Canada, both of which oppose this.
Sue Rodriguez (October 1993) was turned down by Canada’s highest court, and Bill C-384 (April 2010) was defeated 228-59 by Canadian Parliament.
Dr. Terwiel rambled on about a woman in her 80s who he painted as a fanatic who prayed too much, then he switched to Taylor, who he apparently admires
As with Ms. Rodriguez, Ms. Taylor suffers from ALS. Dr. Terwiel admits that if it was legal, he would have given in to former patients who “begged” him to put an end to their incredible suffering.
Dr. Terwiel lamented that he was not trained to make the last stage of his patients’ lives as pain-free and comfortable as possible. And, I thought, that is exactly what caring family, doctors who take the Hippocratic Oath seriously, coupled with modern pain medication, can effectively do. Palliative care is all about the above, not about killing patients.
I think that, like any abortionist, like-minded doctors would be better to practise veterinary medicine, where they are less likely to contribute to a misguided secular humanism that has led many western countries into the death culture we Canadians find ourselves immersed in today.
Richard Whalen
Maple Ridge
