In light of the events of last month, it seems that requests to extend euthanasia do not take holidays.<\/p>\n
In Quebec, barely a month after the publication of a letter<\/a> by the secretary of the College of Physicians \u2013 in which he expressed his concern about a growing \u201cpressure demanding a form of death \u00e0 la carte\u201d<\/em> and in which he denounced those who interpret refusals of euthanasia as a form of exclusion \u2013 lawyer Jean-Pierre M\u00e9nard is challenging before the courts the cases of two people living with disabilities who were refused the assistance of a physician to kill themselves. The plaintiffs requested the removal of the \u201creasonably foreseeable death\u201d clause of the federal law as well as the \u201cend of life\u201d requirement in the Quebec law.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the first hearings of the long-awaited trial of Michel Cadotte \u2013 a man accused of killing his wife suffering from Alzheimers by suffocating her with a pillow \u2013 revealed that the he now has a \u201chard time<\/a>\u201d living with his actions to the point of having \u201can urgent need to consult a psychologist<\/a>.\u201d In spite of everything, Mr. Cadotte will plead \u201ccompassion\u201d to justify the murder of his wife who had already claimed that she \u201cwould rather die than find herself in a CHSLD<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus, instead of leading to ways of improving living conditions in CHSLDs, this turn of events will have a direct impact on one of the extensions currently being studied at the federal level. In fact, experts are presently wondering whether it is socially acceptable to end the life of a person with a form of dementia despite the fact that they will no longer be able to express their consent at the moment of death<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in British Columbia, a trial began to examine the constitutionality of the federal law. For the courts, the ultimate issue will be whether the criteria of \u201creasonably foreseeable death\u201d should be seen as a \u201csafeguard\u201d or, as the plaintiffs argue, a \u201cbarrier to access\u201d that deprives people of their \u201cright to die.\u201d<\/p>\n Clearly, the venom inherent in any law legalizing a form of assisted suicide continues imperturbably to spread into our social system. Barely a year has passed since the\u00a0Federal and Quebec legislation came into force, and we are already seeing a number of legal appeals calling for the extension of assisted suicide to other \u201cexceptional cases.\u201d<\/p>\n At the heart of these various cases brought before the courts \u2013 behind the thick emotional smoke and ad-nauseam<\/em> repeated use of the word \u201ccompassion\u201d \u2013 there is, in fact, an extremely important social issue for our collective future: what value will society place on people living with a disability? This question is closely linked with the following response we offer: will we allow the state to endorse and reinforce the prejudices that are attached to people living with a disability \u2013 the label of living a life \u201cunworthy of being lived\u201d? Or will we, on the contrary, fight against these ignoble prejudices?<\/p>\n For our part, as was the case in my article published in the Huffington Post<\/a>, be assured that Living with Dignity<\/em> will continue to make the voices heard of those who want to build a caring society rather than one that facilitates the death of those who are needing help. We count on your support<\/a>,\u00a0and we encourage you to participate in the debate by calling open lines, writing to journalists, or contacting your MPs<\/a>, and by writing your comments under articles that defend our vision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In light of the events of last month, it seems that requests to extend euthanasia do not take holidays.
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