Mac Olsen,
Smoky River Express
Reporter
This coming summer, Parliament is supposed to pass amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada, permitting physician assisted suicide in this country.
However, it is under the dictates of the Supreme Court of Canada that this is being done. The Court has told the federal government that it has to put in place changes that it sees as amenable to the right-to-die supporters.
How can the highest court in the nation place itself beyond the scope of its defined role on such a controversial issue?
The Supreme Court of Canada has exercised judicial activism, which circumvents the process of parliamentary democracy.
The Court is dictating what the law is supposed to be, rather than merely interpreting whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional.
But Parliament and government are supposed to be representative of the people who elect them. They are not required to get down on bended knee to the dictates of judicial activism.
The Supreme Court of Canada should rescind the order it gave the federal government and let the politicians and the society decide whether physician-assisted suicide should be allowed. The right-to-die supporters can have their voice in that process, but they must also accept ‘No!’ if that is how the final decision comes down.
Physician-assisted suicide is morally wrong. It is nothing more than murder, just like abortion.
Physician-assisted suicide is not a matter of degrees – it is an absolute.
Right-to-die supporters will say it’s about ‘dying with dignity’ and ending someone’s intolerable suffering. But how is it ‘dying with dignity’ when you end someone’s life prematurely?
It is a very dangerously flawed and immoral concept that tries to make itself out as noble. There is nothing noble in advocating for the end of somebody’s life. The higher nobility is upholding a life and allowing it to end naturally – even for those with terminal and painful illnesses.
Moreover, we have palliative care for those who are facing their end days. Palliative care is humane and dignified. It’s a set of professional and ethical standards by which people can live out their last days in as much comfort as possible.
Palliative care is the noblest way of addressing quality of life for those with terminal and painful illnesses. If the ‘dying with dignity’ agenda comes to fruition, then we are providing a shortcut to death and devaluing life itself.
I have experienced the anguish of seeing loved ones die. My mom died of respiratory failure and my dad and I accepted the do-not-resuscitate order she requested from her doctor. That in itself is acceptable and doesn’t violate the sacred life principle.
My dad died of Cardio Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder. I held his life sacred right to the end and would have placed him in palliative care if required.
To all the ‘dying with dignity’ advocates, look to palliative care as the true way of addressing end-of-life quality care issues. It is the most dignified.