{"id":5515,"date":"2017-10-25T15:19:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T19:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/?p=5515"},"modified":"2018-05-29T15:40:42","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T19:40:42","slug":"vol-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vivredignite.org\/en\/vol-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Vol. 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q u i - v\u00a0i v e \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Living With Dignity Newsletter<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0 Vol. 23<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span>A Word from the Director<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After last month\u2019s survey from the Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke<\/a>, in which 91% of family caregivers said that they would agree to extend euthanasia to incapable persons with a terminal illness, the month of October concluded with two other worrisome revelations.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the Canadian Paediatric Society published the results of two internal surveys<\/a> on the euthanasia of children. One of the findings shows that \u201cCanadian health care professionals are increasingly being approached by the parents of \u201cnever-competent\u201d infants and children, including those too young to make a reasoned decision, and by youth themselves, to discuss MAID-related issues.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Furthermore, according to the results of the survey, it appears that \u201cparents raise such questions with paediatricians more often than do minors.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It is important to remember that euthanasia was initially sold as a personal choice required by the right to self-determination. Yet we are already witnessing the abandonment of this principle in favour of the choice made by one person for another, who is, moreover, unable to consent to it.<\/p>\n

This emerging tendency, in addition to undermining one of the fundamental criteria of the law which requires that the request for euthanasia come from the person concerned, clearly demonstrates that death is making its way into the social mindset as an acceptable solution to suffering. It is really quite shocking when one reads in an article<\/a> that 45 paediatricians have already received \u201cexplicit requests from parents (\u2026) [of which] more than half concerned a child less than a year old.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In Quebec, the government released the second report<\/a> from the Commission sur les soins de fin de vie<\/em><\/a> (CSFV) which reports 31 new cases of abuse of the Act<\/strong>. Living with Dignity<\/em> was quick to issue a press release<\/a> to sound the alarm and deplore the lax attitude of the Quebec government which, year by year, is increasingly losing control of the situation.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the statistics are growing at breakneck speed (638 cases of euthanasia<\/strong> out of a total of 992 requests<\/strong> in the last year) and the abuses of the Act are multiplying without any consequences<\/a> for the doctors at fault. On the contrary, the College of Physicians trivializes these transgressions of the Act by treating them as mere administrative errors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Commission, charged with overseeing the application of the Act, is overwhelmed and cannot process all the euthanasia forms sent to it. In addition, their report states that about 38% of the forms arrive late (sometimes weeks, even months after the euthanasia, despite the statutory deadline being 10 days). In addition, the files it deals with sometimes remain incomplete and on occasion doctors even refuse to send the additional information requested by the Commission.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Commission notes that \u201cthe variability in reported information regarding the number of end-of-life individuals who have received palliative care does not allow for the processing of this data at this time\u201d <\/em>(CSFV Report 3.2.1). That is to say, the law that was presented to us as being, first and foremost, a law about access to palliative care<\/a> has become, as we feared, a law centred on euthanasia.<\/p>\n

Thus, in light of the facts reported to us, we are entitled to ask ourselves an essential question: what is the point of having a law, criteria and a supervisory commission if compliance with these conditions seems to be optional?<\/p>\n

Rest assured, while the eyes of our public decision-makers are blinded by their obsession with promoting of death as a solution to suffering, Living with Dignity<\/em> will continue to speak for those who want to build a caring society rather than one that offers death to people who need help. We count on your support<\/a>, and encourage you to participate in the debate by calling phone-in programs, writing to media,\u00a0contacting your MNA\u00a0and writing comments on articles that defend our vision.<\/p>\n

I thank you in advance for your support,<\/p>\n

In solidarity,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

______________________________<\/p>\n

Aubert MARTIN, executive director, Living with Dignity<\/p>\n

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News in Quebec<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n