Euthanasia on demand?
Quebec leans toward dangerous European precedents
Reprinted by permission. © 2014 Focus on the Family (Canada) Association. Original article published on Focusinsights.org. All rights reserved.
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The Olympic Winter Games may be over for another four years, but there’s a downhill slide of a far more dangerous variety still looming ahead for a number of nations.
In our own country, in Quebec, the Parti Québécois has been striving to pass Bill 52, which would effectively legalize both physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia within the province. In framing the legislation, the PQ has been looking to European as opposed to North American models for their inspiration. The laws in US states such as Washington and Oregon permit assisted suicide in clear cases of terminal illness where the patient is expected to live less than six months. But in countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, the criteria are more vague and relaxed, requiring only that the patient express “intolerable suffering,” however that’s defined.
For the moment, Quebec’s Liberal Party has succeeded in stalling the vote, although it will likely be back on the table in March, when the Quebec National Assembly reconvenes.
In the meantime, it might be useful to take a quick look at where some of those European models have led, as a possible indicator of where Canada may be headed.
The Netherlands became the first nation in the world to legalize euthanasia in 2002. At the time, there were all sorts of assurances that the process would be carefully safeguarded. It would be strictly voluntary, reserved for individuals of sound mind who were experiencing unendurable suffering in the expert opinion of attending medical personnel.
It hasn’t exactly gone as originally intended. A decade down the line, the number of euthanasia cases has continued to climb at alarming rates. Like modern angels of death, mobile euthanasia units now make house calls for patients whose doctors refuse to perform the procedure. “Unendurable suffering” has been expanded to include just about anything, from a 63-year-old man unable to face the prospect of retirement to a 54-year-old woman with a pathological fear of germs. Elderly individuals suffering from dementia or other forms of mental illness are increasingly being euthanized, most likely without their informed consent.
Hard on the heels of the Netherlands, Belgium also legalized euthanasia in 2002 and has followed a chillingly similar path. Initial assurances of accountability have given way to what amounts to euthanasia on demand. In 2012, a 64-year-old retired teacher checked into a hospital in Brussels without telling anyone. Citing chronic depression, she asked for and received a lethal injection. Her son only found out the next day when the hospital contacted him to take care of the paperwork. Later the same year, a pair of twin brothers who were deaf from birth discovered they were also going blind. Rather than face this unpleasant prospect, they too requested and received lethal injections. They were 45 years old, and apart from their congenital challenges, pain free and in good health.
In the latest step along this deadly trajectory, the Belgian government has recently voted to extend its euthanasia law to include terminally ill children. All that’s required is parental approval plus the opinion of a mental health worker that the child understands what they’re choosing.
As a rule, it’s usually not the best practice to engage in slippery slope arguments. Like hopping across wet stones in the midst of a raging river, there’s too much panic and leaping about between premises that have no necessary connection with one other.
And to be fair, even if Bill 52 or something like it should pass into law in Quebec, it’s still light years removed from what’s happening in parts of Europe. Naturally the PQ has given strong assurances that the so-called “right to die” would be restricted to adults undergoing extreme suffering who are mentally fit to make that decision.
Nevertheless with such a course of action, it’s prudent to examine possible outcomes based on the parallel examples at hand. Once an individual’s autonomy over their life – including the right to end it – has been asserted, on what basis can any restrictions be placed on that autonomy? Why not allow the mentally infirm and delusional to end their own life? After all, they may well be suffering greatly, according to their own perception of things. And why limit suffering to physiological pain anyway? Why not include the reversals of fortune that are often a part of life? Lost your job? Afraid of growing old? Why not sidestep such difficult realities with a simple injection? And what about the children? Who are we to restrict their choices and overrule their feelings?
The only sane, life affirming answers to such horrific questions are grounded in the sanctity of human life as created by God in His own image. Once that is removed from the equation – as it has been to a large extent in the secular Western world – it all comes down to a matter of degrees. Despite the best of intentions to alleviate suffering, it becomes increasingly hard to hold a line that’s constantly shifting based on what society can live with. Or die with.
Sources and further reading
Canadian Press, “Liberals vote to legalize assisted suicide at party’s national convention,” National Post, February 23, 2014.
CBC Reporters, “Quebec Liberals block passage of end-of-life bill,” CBC News, February 20, 2014.
Janet Davison, “Quebec's ‘dying with dignity’ law would set new standards,” CBC News, February 17, 2014.
Mark Penninga, “Do we really want sick kids to choose death?” The Province, February 18, 2014.
Margaret Somerville, “Why euthanasia and assisted suicide must remain legally prohibited,” The Globe and Mail, February 14, 2014.
Bruno Waterfield, “Belgian identical twins in unique mercy killing,” The Telegraph UK, January 13, 2013.
Bruno Waterfield, “Number of Dutch killed by euthanasia rises by 13 per cent,” The Telegraph UK, September 24, 2013.
Bruno Waterfield, “Belgian MPs vote to extend euthanasia to children of all ages,”The Telegraph UK, February 13, 2014.
Margaret Wente, “Assisted suicide – what could possibly go wrong?” The Globe and Mail, February 20, 2014.
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