From the National Post yesterday:
Quebec’s National Assembly is set to begin final adoption next week of a law that will legalize euthanasia in the province, making it the first jurisdiction in North America to allow physicians to deliberately end patients’ lives.
And as Bill 52 moves forward with support across party lines and among a majority of Quebecers, the province’s College of Physicians is already envisaging a day when some of the bill’s restrictions on euthanasia will need to be loosened.
“This bill, as it is right now, it’s probably a landmark but surely not the end of the reflection,” said Yves Robert, secretary of the College, which supports the bill. “It’s only a step. There are many questions that are still unanswered.”
As Quebecers become accustomed to doctors administering lethal injections to dying patients, the questions will not be about who is receiving euthanasia but who is being denied it, Dr. Robert said.
He raised the example of a patient suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease who would not be eligible for euthanasia under the Quebec law because he is no longer legally capable of giving consent. Another example is the requirement that patients be adults, meaning those under 18 who are terminally ill and suffering would not be eligible.
“We will have to think about that, not only for [incapable] adults but obviously for youngsters who face terminal diseases,” Dr. Robert said.
Almost every jurisdiction that legalizes euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide quickly moves to either liberalize the practice or permits routine violations of the so-called safeguard restrictions. In other words, whatever limits are placed on euthanasia to placate those who worry about an encroaching culture of death scooping up the vulnerable, are ephemeral.
So here we have the Quebec College of Physicians already looking ahead when the law’s statutory restrictions can be loosened. It is rare for euthanasia activists to give away the long-term plan to lift the limits before a law is passed, but here we have Dr. Yves Robert admitting he wants euthanasia expanded to people who are not competent to make the decision for themselves and children. Legislators who are skittish about euthanasia but find some solace in the current law’s restrictions should take notice: whatever limits they think might exist are temporary.
Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has been on top of Bill 52 all along and the EPC’s press release this week explains what is wrong with the bill (now): ” Quebec’s euthanasia Bill 52 is unconstitutional, imprecise, and lethal.”Québec’s euthanasia bill 52 is unconstitutional, imprecise and lethal. He frequently notes that safeguards are not safe and fail to guard to against abuse of legal restrictions. Of course, the main problem with euthanasia is not that it is open to abuse, but that is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.
