Parsing assisted-suicide ruling

Re On assisted suicide, Ottawa isn’t listening, Opinion July 27

There is a key difference between the Supreme Court ruling and what was asked in the survey Bob Ramsay cited. The actual survey question asked about assisted suicide for the terminally ill — overall, only 51 per cent strongly agreed, and 33 per cent somewhat agreed.

But the ruling makes no mention of terminal illness, only “enduring intolerable pain or mental anguish,” as Ramsay wrote. To use the survey results to claim overwhelming public support for the decision is like saying if you like apples, you must like oranges too.

The survey question, as copied from the Dying with Dignity website, read: “In October, the Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear a case about assisted dying. As long as there are strong safeguards in place, how much do you agree or disagree that a doctor should be able to help someone end their life if the person is a competent adult who is terminally ill, suffering unbearably and repeatedly asks for assistance to die?” Davina Lansing, Bowmanville

Re Panel makes perfect sense, Letter July 26

The writer only considers her own biases. Wouldn’t it be best if the committee members had no prejudices going in, for or against? Then they could hear the submissions from all sides and come up with a fair, unbiased solution.

If the committee members come to the table stacked in favour of assisted suicide they might not include sufficient safeguards to avoid abuse, while stacking the committee with those opposed to assisted suicide could result in so many hurdles that it is virtually impossible for anybody to access this end of life option.

Usually solutions that favour the middle ground prove to be the best for most members of society. Steen Petersen, Nanaimo, B.C.