Tag: Yvon Bureau

Redefining the Practice of Medicine- Euthanasia in Quebec, Part 3: Evolution or Slippery Slope?

Redefining the Practice of Medicine- Euthanasia in Quebec, Part 3: Evolution or Slippery Slope?Abstract

Euthanasia laws frequently include guidelines and safeguards intended to prevent abuse.  Eligibility criteria are the most basic guidelines or safeguards.  In considering their stability, it is important to consider not only the elasticity of existing statutory provisions, but recommendations for expansion that might ultimately result in changes to the law.
ARELC’s requirement for legal competence can be sidestepped through the provision allowing substitute decision makers to order the starvation and dehydration of legally incompetent patients (Euthanasia Beneath the Radar- EBTR).  Beyond this, there are strong indications that the reach of the law will be expanded to include legally incompetent patients.

The Quebec Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights has indicated that it would consider refusal of euthanasia to the legally incompetent, uninsured persons or minors, including children, to be unlawful discrimination

No agreement was reached during legislative hearings about when a patient is “at the end of life,” so this added criterion provides only an opportunity for disagreement and judicial interpretation.

A “serious and incurable illness” could conceivably include clinical depression, which could cause “unbearable psychological pain” that cannot be relieved because the patient finds the side-effects of anti-depressants intolerable.  Such a patient qualify for euthanasia, and the Quebec Ombudsman recommended that the possibilty of euthanasia for the mentally ill be seriously studied.

Expanding the law’s reach in these directions is supported by a number of powerful and influential organizations in Quebec; a number of them recommended an incremental approach to accomplish this.

For these reasons, it is reasonable to believe that ARELC’s criteria for euthanasia will be broadened by interpretation, by statutory amendments and by court rulings, so that, as time goes on, there will be more euthanasia, not less.  Depending upon one’s moral  or ethical perspective, this can be described as a slippery slope, a process of natural evolution (for better or worse) or progressive democracy in action.

It is not necessary here to determine which of these conflicting perspectives is the most accurate.  It is sufficient to observe that the expansion of the eligibility criteria for euthanasia can be safely predicted.  This is relevant to concerns about freedom of conscience because increasing the range of circumstances under which euthanasia can be provided increases the likelihood of conflicts of conscience and conscientious objection. [Full Text]

Hearings on Quebec Bill 52: Ghislain Leblond, Yvon Bureau

Ghislain Leblond, Yvon Bureau

Wednesday, 25 September 2013 – Vol. 43 N° 38

Note: The following translation is the  product of a first run through “Google translate.”  In most cases it is  sufficient to identify statements of interest, but more careful translation is  required to properly understand the text.

Original Text

Caution: machine assisted translation
 (version non révisée)
 (Reprise à 16 h 15)
Le Président (M. Bergman) : M. Leblond, M. Bureau, bienvenue. Alors, vous avez 15 minutes pour faire une présentation, suivie d’un échange avec les membres de la commission. Je vous demanderais de donner vos noms, vos titres, et, pour faire votre présentation dans les prochaines 15 minutes, le micro, c’est à vous. The Chairman (Mr. Bergman): Mr. Leblond, M. Bureau, welcome. Then you have 15 minutes to make a presentation, followed by a discussion with the members of the commission. I ask you to give your name, your title, and to make your presentation in the next 15 minutes, the microphone is yours.
M. Leblond (Ghislain) : Merci. Est-ce que vous pouvez m’entendre? Mr. Leblond (Ghislain): Thank you. Do you hear me?
Une voix : …
M. Leblond (Ghislain) : Merci. Écoutez, je suis Ghislain Leblond. Je suis tout simplement quelque chose qui souffre d’une maladie dégénérative. J’ai des problèmes depuis 50 ans. Et j’ai l’honneur d’être accompagné par M. Yvon Bureau, qui lui est un militant de très longue date, je ne veux pas référer à ton âge nécessairement, mais sur la question de mourir dans la dignité et la sérénité au Québec. Mr. Leblond (Ghislain): Thank you. Look, I’m Ghislain Leblond. I’m just something that suffers from a degenerative disease. I have problems in 50 years. And I have the honor to be accompanied by Yvon Bureau, which is a very long time activist, I do not want to refer to your age necessarily, but on the issue of dying with dignity and serenity Quebec.
Alors, merci de nous accueillir. On veut d’abord évidemment se joindre à tout le monde, la plupart, du moins, qui vous a félicité pour la qualité du travail que vous avez accompli et la qualité des rapports qui en ont découlé, de même que du projet de loi. J’ai déjà eu l’occasion de le dire auparavant ici, à une pareille commission puis en public également, je ne suis pas surpris de la qualité du travail que vous avez accompli. Dans une vie antérieure, j’ai eu souvent l’occasion de travailler avec des élus, et j’ai toujours constaté le sérieux avec lequel ils prenaient leur travail. Alors, dans cet exercice particulier, je peux vous dire que vous faites honneur à votre métier de député. So, thank you for welcoming us. The first aim is obviously to join everyone, most, at least, who congratulated you for the good work you have done and the quality of reports that resulted, as well as the bill. I have already had occasion to say before here at such a commission and also in public, I am not surprised at the quality of the work you’ve done. In a previous life, I have often had the opportunity to work with elected officials, and I have always found the seriousness with which they took their work. So, in this particular year, I can tell you that you are a credit to your profession as a member.

Full Translation