Seniors’ care sadly lacking
Re: Death on demand courtesy of Bill C-7, Raymond J. de Souza, Nov. 21
Fr. Raymond de Souza, a number of physicians and vulnerable Canadians are right. Bill C-7 is being rushed through Parliament in the midst of a pandemic with little or no discussion and/or forethought. In essence, for the elderly, the infirm, the chronically ill and the mentally disabled persons, the future of health care is MAD ( medically assisted death). How did we get here? Has society lost its moral compass?
Perhaps you believe a doctor’s Hippocratic oath, established by the ancient Greeks to “do no harm,” will protect your desire for life at a vulnerable moment. Politicians and health-care bureaucrats, dealing with health care in a financial crisis and with the authority to establish licensing and fee payments to doctors, appear inclined to view the oath in terms of stemming the demands of health- care funding. In the interest of fiscal efficiencies, the Greek’s commitment to the individual has been abandoned.
Political decisions in modern times respond to social activists and interest groups rather than ethics, principles and values. For example, Parliament long ago determined that convicted murderers should not be subject to the death penalty. While continuing to hold that view — indeed life sentences for murder no longer mean life — C-7 proposes to provide no minimum wait time between decision and death and no provision of independent advocacy representation.
Just last Friday, the prime minister was advocating dramatic measures to combat COVID-19 because our “lives are in danger,” at the same time as he is rushing Bill C-7 through Parliament. Obviously, from the prime minister’s perspective, some lives are more important than others.
When it comes to life and death, values, norms and principles are sadly lacking, particularly when it comes to the care and protection of seniors.
Robert Teskey, Ottawa
There is already more than enough social engineering in our society than to require legislation to determine who can and cannot avail themselves of medical assistance in terminating their lives at their own choosing. This is a deeply personal decision that should involve, at most, close family members and no one else, let alone medical experts, academics, clergy, palliative care-givers, and especially government.
With the wide availability of fentanyl just about anywhere ( legal or otherwise), and particularly should personal possession of illegal drugs become decriminalized, the issue of requiring government to sanction MAID should be rendered moot. I will have my supply available should the need arise.
Morton Doran MD, Fairmont, B. C.