Last week, the British Columbia Supreme Court emulated the state of Oregon’s assisted suicide law via a decision in Carter v. AG Canada, which “carves exceptions into the laws allowing Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Canada.”
Making matters even worse, the court did this against the expressed will of Canadians as demonstrated over the last 20 years.
For example, in 1993 the B.C. Supreme Court upheld the prohibition against assisted suicide in Rodriguez v. AG BC and in 2010, the Federal Parliament of Canada “overwhelming defeated” pro-euthanasia legislation (Bill C-384).
Thus, the ruling in Carter not only signifies a monumental shift of policy, but also goes a long way in setting Canada on a path against herself. And those in greatest danger are not necessarily those in greatest pain, but those whose caregivers or guardians are tired of giving care or guarding.
In today’s narcissistic climate, both in the U.S. and in Canada, elderly people and those suffering from terrible diseases, as well as those who are mentally or physically handicapped, are often looked upon as being a drag on our society: they are those who rain on our otherwise beautiful, utopian parade. Nevertheless, the idea of killing them off is not honestly framed as relief for the survivors to assuage consciences, but as relief for those killed.
So in the name of ending the pain and suffering of so many, or finally putting an end to their dismally poor quality of life, death is presented as “the final solution.”
I believe Adolf Hitler’s final solution ended up costing nearly 10,000,000 lives when one takes into account not only the Jews who were targeted, but the Christians, the handicapped, and the those deemed socially incompatible as well.
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Is this really the road we ought to be traveling?
Have we come this far in the fight for broadened rights for all persons around the globe only to turn on a dime and persuade ourselves it’s okay to kill our own (at some point)? Sure, some people say they want to die after hearing for so long that death is an acceptable way out. That just makes it all the more convenient for us, doesn’t it?
Distressed patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves. Even in Oregon, studies show that such patients often don’t end up killing themselves when they get counseling and good pain management.
But when they don’t Oregon’s law has “become notorious for its erosion of medical standards and abuse of psychiatry to rubber-stamp suicide requests.” And now, one must wonder how long it will be until Canada’s change in law turns into the same type of semi-controlled chaos.
Life is precious—and far too precious to be expendable.
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