Category: Euthanasia

Keep the state out of the killing rooms of the nation

 National Post

Barbara Kay

Commentary following last Friday’s Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide has filled the pages of this and other Canadian publications. Opinion for and against the ruling has been intelligently debated. But I have yet to see a column that focuses directly on my own concerns, so here is my two cents.

I am firmly in the anti-euthanasia camp, as my last two columns have indicated. There is no question in my mind that once euthanasia is permitted to those capable of self-determination, “equality” activists will demand – and get – euthanasia for those who also suffer terribly, but are incapable of assenting to their own physician-enabled deaths. That has been proven to be the case in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Some readers assume that this also puts me in the anti-assisted-suicide camp as well. That is not the case. I find I have a more ambivalent position on this question. I support the right of any individual who finds life unbearable for whatever reason to take his own life. I therefore cannot in conscience refuse someone yearning to die, but incapable of carrying out his wish, the right to ask for assistance in achieving that goal. . . [Full Text]

 

Why a ‘conscience clause’ is essential in assisted suicide legislation

Pharmacists must be allowed to opt out of dispensing lethal prescriptions if assisted suicide is legalised, and this right should be protected in law, says Aileen Bryson, policy and practice lead at Royal Pharmaceutical Society Scotland.

The Pharmaceutical Joural

Aileen Bryson

Assisted suicide is a sensitive and emotional subject, and if it were legalised many pharmacists would play important roles in the process  –  including requests to dispense prescriptions that would end lives.

So when legislation to allow assisted suicide was proposed in both Scottish and Westminster Parliaments in 2012, the national pharmacy boards of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) developed a policy to address the challenges and issues the profession might encounter.

RPS policy neither supports nor opposes the Bills. But we wanted to ensure politicians understood that the pharmacist’s role reaches far beyond supply, and that pharmacists would need to work in partnership with medical colleagues. Moreover, as healthcare professionals, the concept of dispensing a prescription that would end someone’s life is quite outside the realm of routine pharmacy practice and raises many ethical and practical questions. . . [Full Text]

 

Physician-assisted suicide is a non-issue for most MDs

CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca

Dr. Shawn Whatley

For most doctors, physician-assisted suicide will not change almost anything in day-to-day practice. It will happen away from the mainstream of care, available but not obvious. Doctors will want reassurance that neither patients nor caregivers get coerced but beyond that, most physicians will not get passionate either way.

Doctors usually avoid social activism. As a group, they support social movements but rarely create movements of their own.

Doctors agree on one moral absolute: Thou shalt not express a moral opinion about the behaviours, beliefs or decisions of thy patient. Everyone is a potential patient. Ergo, doctors should not express opinions about anyone’s choice. Society expects this—demands this—of its doctors. Modern medical trainees learn objectivity before all else. . . [Full Text]

 

Saskatoon doctor worried about Supreme Court assisted suicide ruling

Global News

Doug Lett

SASKATOON –  One Saskatoon doctor is worried about the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling last week that opens the door to physician assisted suicide. Dr. Philip Fitzpatrick, a family doctor and ER physician, says it flies in the face of doctors’ commitment not to cause harm to patients.

“This is a bit of a red line because as physicians we’re not supposed to be partaking in anything that might harm our patients,” he told Global News. “Definitely for me participating in an assisted suicide would be harming my patient – even a referral for that would make me culpable for that.” [Full text]