Waterloo Region Record
Physicians are supposed to save lives, not hasten death.
So it’s not surprising that some doctors are having problems seeing how they fit into Canada’s new law that legalizes physician-assisted suicide for some patients.
It turns out that conscientious objectors like Sandra Brickell, a physician who works in Kitchener hospitals, are not protected.
“When somebody wants to end their life, it goes against what we’ve been trained to do,” she said at a meeting Friday with several other doctors, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht and Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris. . . [Full Text]
The lack of protection in the case of euthanasia and assisted suicide results, in the first place, from the deliberate decision of the government of Canada that it will enable state agencies and others to compel citizens to participate in euthanasia and assisted suicide.
The federal government has constitutional jurisdiction over criminal law. When amending the Criminal Code to implement the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Carter v. Canada, it could have made it a criminal offence to compel someone to be a party to homicide and suicide. It was repeatedly asked to do so, and steadfastly refused.
See, for example, Project submissions to the Special Joint Committee on Physician Assisted Dying, to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, and to Canadian MPs and Senators. The latter, referring to the Prime Minister’s misconduct in the House of Commons, stated: “If it is ‘unacceptable’ for Members of Parliament to use physical force against each other, surely it is ‘unacceptable’ for state institutions or others to use the force of law to compel people to be parties to inflicting death upon others, and to punish those who refuse.”