Dear Editor:
There are five good reasons we should oppose euthanasia as we witness the results of legalized assisted death in our nation. Statistics show that last year Canada was on track to record some 13,500 state-sanctioned deaths, a 34% rise from the previous year.
When we are vulnerable or care about someone who is vulnerable, we should oppose euthanasia for these reasons.
1) The law gives rights to medical practitioners to legally kill a person (but no one should have the legal right to justify killing). We all deserve to have proper care and support.
2) The “safeguards” only protect the doctor, not the vulnerable people. The “safeguards” are not safe and include exceptions that are wide open.
3) The physician’s role as healer is compromised. The American Medical Association Code Ethics opinion 5.7 states that, “permitting physicians to engage in assisted suicide would ultimately cause more harm than good, and would be difficult to control, posing serious societal risks.”
4) Doctors are fallible and make medical errors or misdiagnoses. According to an article by Brian Mastroianni, 12 million Americans are affected by medical misdiagnosis each year and an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 people die annually from complications related to misdiagnosis with a similar number of people who experience disability related to misdiagnosis.
5) Assisted death laws pressure physicians who then put pressure on the patient. What begins as a choice to kill or a choice to die becomes pressure to kill/die.
All these concerns have been demonstrated in our nation and many families have been wrongfully mistreated, all in the name of freedom to choose.
Pat Woode,
Fergus