{"id":2074,"date":"2015-10-30T11:27:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T15:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2018-12-19T09:40:32","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T14:40:32","slug":"montreal-symposium-theory-and-reality-about-euthanasia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/montreal-symposium-theory-and-reality-about-euthanasia\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Symposium: Theory and Reality about Euthanasia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MONTREAL, Oct. 30, 2015 - The <i>Physicians' Alliance against Euthanasia<\/i>, the <i>Living with Dignity<\/i> network and the <i>Euthanasia Prevention Coalition<\/i> are coming together for a <a href=\"http:\/\/alexschadenberg.blogspot.ca\/2015\/09\/euthanasia-symposium-2015.html?utm_source=EPC+Contacts&amp;utm_campaign=ec360b3bfa-EPC+October+Newsletter+plus+updates.&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_d113c154ac-ec360b3bfa-157716053\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">one day conference<\/a> on <span class=\"xn-chron\">Saturday October 31, 2015<\/span> at the Best Western Ville Marie hotel, to discuss our common concerns and directions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <span class=\"xn-location\">Quebec<\/span> euthanasia experiment is scheduled to begin on <span class=\"xn-chron\">December 10<\/span>. The vast majority of physicians around the world have always rejected euthanasia, above all because it is a public safety hazard: it can drive people to throw away years of their lives and provide caregivers and heirs with enormous power. Although it gives an illusion of control, the option of euthanasia will undoubtedly erode medical diligence and creativity in the medical care of people both chronically disabled and acutely disabled by illness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Most\u00a0patients fear suffering at the end of life. This has always been the case. But we must find a less dangerous option than the constant availability of \"death on demand\" to address these fears. In extreme cases, i.e. for the small minority of patients for whom other options are not completely effective, palliative sedation can answer all symptom control problems.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">Quebec<\/span> has the only law in the world which attempts to coerce doctors to refer patients for euthanasia. Such pointless authoritarianism, of which we already had a taste in September, is a dangerous precedent which must be formally rejected.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From a logistical point of view patients do not need help from their treating physician to access euthanasia: the government could easily set up a system of self-referral to <u>voluntarily<\/u> licensed doctors who are willing to practice euthanasia. This would avoid trampling on the professional judgment and conscience of the rest of the medical profession.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We reject the concept that euthanasia is any kind of health care. We reject bullying physicians into referring their patients for death. And we reject the\u00a0concept that intentional death\u00a0is a solution to human distress.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dr <span class=\"xn-person\">Catherine Ferrier<\/span> - President, Physicians Alliance Against Euthanasia<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dr <span class=\"xn-person\">Will Johnston<\/span> - Chair,\u00a0Euthanasia\u00a0Prevention Coalition - BC<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dr <span class=\"xn-person\">Margaret Cottle<\/span> - Vice President, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dr <span class=\"xn-person\">Marc Beauchamp<\/span> - President, Living with Dignity Network<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONTREAL, Oct. 30, 2015 &#8211; The Physicians&#8217; Alliance against Euthanasia, the Living with Dignity network and the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition are coming together for a one day conference on Saturday &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290,848],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-public-interventions-2015-2016-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2074"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8526,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions\/8526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}