Interim Staff
Pro-life officials have serious reservations about right to die legislation now being debated in the Canadian Senate.
Bill S-13, also known as a live-and-let-die law, was introduced by Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs of Manitoba. The bill, which reached second reading in early March, would amend the Criminal Code to allow doctors to withhold or remove life support treatment from terminally ill, competent patients.
The bill was seconded by Conservative Senator Wilbert Keon who believes the law surrounding right to die issues needs to be clarified. Dr. Keon, one of Canada’s leading heart surgeons, says he does not advocate mercy killing. However he believes Canadian society needs direction in dealing with terminally ill patients who request death.
Both Carstairs and Keon say the bill is necessary to address needless suffering on the part of some patients. They believe some doctors are unwilling to carry out patients’ wishes to withhold treatment for fear of criminal prosecution.
“This has everything to do with relieving pain,” Carstairs told The Ottawa Citizen. “There are many doctors in Canada who still refuse to recognize patients’ wishes to withhold or withdraw treatment because they’re afraid they could be sued.”
Pro-life groups, however, fear the proposed bill could open the door to wider acceptance of mercy killing. They speculate that patients who are unable to communicate their wishes to health care practitioners may have decisions made on their behalf.
Karen Murawksy, public affairs officer for Campaign Life Coalition’s Ottawa office, says the bill needs to be carefully monitored. “This bill could be just the first step in a real euthanasia and assisted suicide law,” Murawsky said.
She also disputed Carstairs’ suggestion that there is no opposition to the bill in the Senate or among Canadians in general. A number of senators, as well as officials with the Ottawa-based Council of Canadians with Disabilities, have expressed reservations. They fear the bill could lead to a wider acceptance of the view that severely disabled patients are a social burden.
The Carstairs-Keon bill originated in a special Senate committee that recommended two years ago that assisted suicide not be legalized. Despite the recommendation, the seven senators on the committee were unanimous in calling for Criminal Code amendments allowing terminally ill patients and their surrogates the right to have treatments withdrawn or withheld.
The bill must receive third reading in the Senate before it can be referred to the House of Commons. It is not expected to reach that stage until after the upcoming federal election.
