[Dion]

Derek Miedema: Be wary of assisted dying

Seeing the slippery slope isn’t terribly hard either. The situation on the ground in Belgium (which legalized euthanasia is 2002) and the Netherlands (which has a long history of access to euthanasia, even before legalization in 2001) points to a different reality than the one Dr. Belchetz describes.

In Belgium, like the Netherlands, euthanasia started with terminally ill people, then it was allowed for the mentally ill. Now, even though the law itself hasn’t changed, anyone with unbearable physical or psychological suffering can be killed this way.

Twin deaf brothers who were going blind found a doctor who would kill them. A depressed mother was killed (her son found out when asked to collect her things from the morgue).

If society agrees that all suffering (physical and psychological) is bad and death is a potential solution, it will be next to impossible to limit euthanasia or assisted suicide to terminally ill patients. If euthanasia is good for them, why not for those who are mentally ill? If mental illness, why not dementia? If adults, why not children?

Unbearable suffering exists in this world. I, for one, will not deny this, having watched my own father die of ALS. But unbearable suffering ought to be met with treatment and care to relieve that suffering, not a needle to kill the patient. The offer of death as treatment would put pressure on vulnerable, sick and elderly people to end their lives.

This is why many seniors and people with disabilities feel that legalized assisted suicide would put them at risk. If doctors decide that such people are better off dead, doctors may interpret their cries for help as a request for death. Legalizing assisted suicide or euthanasia would give them the go-ahead.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/...ssisted-dying/