Euthanasia
Canada – Mother seeks to expand euthanasia to her disabled 4-year-old son
A mother in Quebec seeks to expand euthanasia to enable her to euthanise her 4-year-old son which is severely disabled, is deaf, lives with severe intellectual disability, has daily intestinal problems, and has already come close to death several times. She said there was no possibility for her son’s quality of life to improve and invited two senators to her home of which one senator decided to champion the cause of child euthanasia. The current Canadian law permits euthanasia for people who are at least 18 years old and capable of consenting. For those who claim that legalizing euthanasia does not lead to a “slippery slope” think again. Michel Bureau President of the Commission on Life Care said, “This is what is dangerous; a slippage that only allows those who are beautiful and perfect to live,”
In January this year, United Nations Human Rights experts expressed alarm at a growing trend to enact legislation enabling access to euthanasia based largely on having a disability or disabling conditions, including in old age. The statement on their website condemned such legislation and said such legislation is grounded in ableist and stereotypical assumptions about the inherent ‘quality of life’ or ‘worth’ of the life of a person with a disability. The UN statement also recognised that such legislation normalises the act of euthanasia and condemned it. Mother-seeks-to-euthanise-4-year-old-son, Disability is not a reason to sanction medically assisted dying – UN experts.
Australia – Dissenting report opposes euthanasia
Dr Mark Robinson Member of Parliament (MP) in the Queensland Australia parliament wrote a dissenting report to the official parliamentary report on the proposed assisted dying bill. Dr Robinson’s report creates a strong basis for opposing assisted dying. Similar to another report on assisted suicide by Nick Goiran who wrote a report titled: License to Care not License to Kill opposing the legalization of euthanasia which was meticulously researched, documenting world-wide concerns with legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Dr Robinson’s dissenting report is 24 pages of strong arguments against euthanasia. He argues that physicians should not be involved in interventions whose primary intention is the ending of a person’s life, therefore acts of euthanasia are unethical. He emphasized that if proper end-of-life care and palliative care were available there would be no demand for euthanasia and points out that euthanasia has become an alternative to the lack of proper end-of-life care.
What is initially proposed as a measure to help a very small number of people, said to be in intolerable physical pain, is progressively broadened to apply to thousands of people, including those with no physical medical condition. Initial procedural safeguards are also relaxed. Once you lift the lid on Pandora’s box, there’s no going back.
Many vulnerable people experience subtle pressure to take their own life – some are made to feel almost duty bound to their family or to society to end their life prematurely. When elder abuse is combined with legalised access to euthanasia, it inevitably leaves the most vulnerable at risk of being coerced into ending their lives. Wrongful deaths have followed these laws everywhere they are introduced. Article (See both reports &/or download them below)