The Conversation We Are Not Having

I have already blogged about physician-assisted suicide and I have sent it off everywhere.  There has been no response, perhaps because I am assumed to be a mischievous crank or an anxious nutter.  Fair enough.  It is very easy to let our emotions run away on such matters.  I do not believe that I have committed this sin by the way. Here is the post if you wish to refresh your memory, Gentle Reader: http://aaronbenjaminzacharias.blogspot.ca/2016/04/kicking-and-screaming.html

My Member of Parliament, the Honorable Hedy Fry, has been so kind as to reply to my email when I sent out this post.  Here is what she wrote, in full:

Dear Aaron,

 

Thank you for writing to my office with regard to Bill C-14 and physician-assisted dying. I welcome hearing from constituents, as open dialogue is a vital part of my role as a Member of Parliament.

 

While I did not vote for C-14, I should clarify for you that I do support physician-assisted dying. My views are informed by my work as a physician, by discussions with colleagues, experts, and constituents, and by my understanding of the Supreme Court’s Carter ruling.

 

For a full explanation of how I reached my decision not to support the bill, please see this editorial which I recently wrote on the subject: http://www.straight.com/news/707976/dr-hedy-fry-why-i-did-not-vote-favour-bill-c-14-physician-assisted-dying. If you are unable to have access through this method, I have attached a copy of my statement.

 

I understand that many remain uneasy about the prospect of physician-assisted dying. Fundamentally, however, this is about the rights of individual Canadians to control, under specific conditions, their own end-of-life decisions free from undue restrictions imposed by the state.

 

I firmly believe that the Supreme Court gave us, as parliamentarians, an important opportunity to enact a legislative framework which respects and upholds the Charter rights outlined in Carter v. Canada. And while I could not support the bill in its current form, I am prepared to support it in the future, should the government accept Senate amendments that would address the concerns shared by me and by many of my constituents.

 

Once again, thank you for writing to me about physician-assisted dying. I appreciate the chance to discuss my views with you and to offer an opportunity for greater input. Please do not hesitate to write again should you have any further questions, on this topic or any other.

Sincerely,

 

Hon. Hedy Fry, PC, MP

Vancouver Centre

I greatly appreciate that Ms. Fry should take the time to write.  I also greatly respect her position on physician assisted suicide even if we don't entirely agree.  I believe that in my earlier post I conceded that this horse is already out of the barn.  The people have spoken and even if I think the people are wrong, last I heard, we live in a democracy and this also means having to accept measures and legislation that I don't necessarily agree with.

But this is the conversation we are still not having.  I can accept a person in grievous distress wanting to end their life, and I also understand the reasoning behind opening this possibility to persons who are so ill, disabled and likely to die anyway that it would appear to be the most merciful option.

I am not comfortable that this is a line that has been legally crossed, placing in the hands of physicians, who have vowed to do no harm, this power, however limited, over life and death.  I am concerned that physicians who are people of faith, and perhaps some agnostics and atheists as well, will find it morally and ethically difficult as well as mentally and emotionally distressing to be party to ending a human life.  I am also concerned that by crossing this line some physicians could actually grow a little too used to having this power and could even wind up playing God with human lives. 

On the radio this morning, the Early Edition program on CBC Radio One, to be precise, there was a caller who suggested that palliative care might be a waste of money that would be better spent on healthy young people with something to contribute to society.  How do we value a human life.  By monetary ciphers.  Practical usefulness.  I have long been under the impression that the value of any society can be determined by the value they place on their most vulnerable members.

This is what the Hon. Hedy Fry did not address in her reply to my original email and blogpost about doctor assisted suicide.  She said nothing about guarantees and protections that need to be enshrined in this kind of legislation to protect the most vulnerable persons in society, people such as myself (almost a senior, poor and without family), other low-income seniors dependent on government largess, people with physical, mental and mental health disabilities, again completely dependent on government support, residents of government funded nursing and long term care facilities, youth in foster care, people on welfare, prisoners,  street homeless adults and youth, poor social outcasts and misfits of any description but nonetheless poor and therefore not likely to feed the Economy Beast.

Especially now that we are facing one of the largest waves of mass retirement as aging boomers leave the work force and many end up having to rely on social support systems as well as maxing our public health care system to breaking point, legislated doctor assisted suicide could easily be abused and employed as a kind of passive euthanasia and this is not a feature of a civilized nation.  Ask any of the thirteen million victims of Hitler`s death camps.  Think I`m being alarmist.  Think this could never happen here.  Think that those who ignore the lessons of history are not doomed to repeat its mistakes.

I shall conclude this post with an open request to the Hon. Ms. Fry.  Hedy, I and I think many others, especially those of us who are among society`s vulnerable, would be ever so grateful if you, the Prime Minister, and other elected Members of Parliament could promise and guarantee that protections be enshrined in this legislation for doctor-assisted suicide against any harm, excess or abuse that could result especially to those of us who could be considered a financial and social burden to society, that these amendments be given teeth and that never will any of us who chose to live will be forced, coerced, manipulated or pressured to want to consider suicide, and that new legislation be tabled and passed to guarantee us with sufficient decent housing, health care and access to food and community inclusion, including palliative care enhancements and improvements, to make it absolutely impossible for anyone but the most dreadfully ill and wracked with pain and mental suffering to even want to think of leaving this earth before our appointed time.

This is a reasonable expectation and it needs to be openly talked about.

I await your reply, Hedy, and in the meantime I ask all of you, Gentle Reader, to please pass on this post to as many as you can.