Palliative care preferable to euthanasia

Euthanasia is ending a life by acting, or failing to act, so as to cause death.

Euthanasia may be active or passive. A lethal injection, performed with the intent of causing death is considered active, while deliberately failing to provide nourishment or required medication is considered passive.

Either way, euthanasia is undertaken with the intent of killing someone or hastening death.

Once a natural part of life, death becomes a controlled event.

Palliative care is about making it possible to live fully to the very end of life with dignity and comfort surrounded by a circle of support.

A care-giving team of family, health care professionals, clergy and volunteers, provide services tailored to each person’s need.

Palliative care does not hasten or deny death, but provides humane, compassionate care, as suffering-free as

While life is seen as an absolute value above all others, palliative sedation is provided where necessary to give comfort, not to cause or hasten death.

Patients are allowed to naturally, not put to death.

A few years ago I lived the palliative care experience with my sister.

Professionals and volunteers at the Palliative Care Center treated both she and our family with the utmost dignity, concern, respect and love.

One evening a kind maintenance man returned after hours, of his own accord, to fix a chair in her room that he noticed wasn’t reclining properly.

A few days later, on Christmas morning, my sister died a pain-free peaceful death.

We Islanders are blessed to have palliative care available to us.

In February our Federal Government’s Special Joint Committee on PhysicianAssisted “Palliative care is about making it possible to live fully to the very end of life with dignity and comfort surrounded by a circle of support. A care-giving team of family, health care professionals, clergy and volunteers, provide services tailored to each person’s need. Palliative care does not hasten or deny death, but provides humane, compassionate care, as suffering-free as possible. While life is seen as an absolute value above all others, palliative sedation is provided where necessary to give comfort, not to cause or hasten death. Patients are allowed to die naturally, not put to death.” Dying released a report recommending the extension of physician-assisted suicide to children and persons with mental illness with special consideration given to how this practice would be implemented in indigenous communities. WHAT? I somehow doubt this comforted communities still trembling from the tragedy of youth suicides.

Has the viewpoint of all Canadians, including indigenous peoples, regarding euthanasia been sought and given due consideration?

In 1996, Australia’s Northern Territory legalized euthanasia through a bill named The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (ROTI).

However, a few short months later, ROTI was nullified by federal legislation.

This unusual federal reaction to a territorial bill was spurred by the response of indigenous peoples, whose viewpoint had been largely ignored.

Some believed indigenous peoples did not understand euthanasia or they had been subjected to fear mongering.

Given the opportunity however, Australia’s indigenous peoples simply stated that taking another person’s life is wrong and that medicine should be used for healing.

Canadian politicians, including the four from P.E.I., voted against allowing medical personnel to follow their consciences re taking part in assisted suicides.

We will lose good doctors and nurses who cannot abide such lack of respect for their beliefs.

Would our tax dollars not be better spent in providing palliative care at home or in centers than using them to buy expensive medicine to end lives? All material in this publication is the property of the Transcontinental Atlantic Media Group G.P., and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior consent of the Publisher. The Publisher is not responsible for statements or claims by advertisers. The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes of typographical efforts that do not lessen the value of an advertisement or for omitting to publish an advertisement. Liability is strictly limited to the publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for that advertisement.

The Guardian is a member of the National NewsMedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to mediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163.