Blog

"The battle has just begun"

Montreal XX February 2014 – The Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia denounces the adoption of Act 52, "An Act respecting end-of-life care". This constitutes a serious betrayal of the sick and the dying, as the act of killing a terminally ill patient is not treatment, but homicide. Our MNAs have also failed in their duty to the entire population of Quebec by trying to fundamentally change the very definition of medicine, the concept of health care and the value of human life.

We refuse to see medicine distorted in this way. We will do everything in our power to protect vulnerable patients, to protect the integrity of health care teams and to preserve the high quality and humane medicine that generations of doctors and nurses have built in Quebec.

We say "no" to Act 52 which transforms the medical profession into a tool to eliminate the sickest and weakest members of our society. This Act will pressure them into seeking death at a time of their lives when they are most vulnerable and least able to resist giving in to abandonment and despair.

Just as we say "no" to over-aggressive medical treatment, we say "no" to a government that proposes death to Quebecers without even having universal access to palliative care (at most 30% of the population requiring palliative care currently has access). This ill-conceived solution damages not only the health care system but the whole population of Quebec. Especially as, at the same time, the government is planning service cuts in all hospitals to balance its budget.

We say "no" to the introduction of euthanasia in the Quebec health care system at a time when mental health problems among doctors and nurses are reaching crisis proportions (alarming rates of depression and suicide). The impact of euthanasia on the health of caregivers in Belgium and the Netherlands has been hidden from us. This disaster will be repeated in Québec: being paid to kill patients instead of treating them will have a disastrous effect on the health of caregivers.

It is unacceptable that the Government of Quebec, proclaiming a false consensus, finds nothing better to offer people who feel desperate at the end of life than physician-inflicted death, when in 2004 the Ministry of Health and Social Services adopted an excellent policy setting out very well the medical, nursing and other services that should be available to patients at end of life in Quebec. This is the policy that must be implemented, not Act 52, which reflects a lamentable societal failure.

Doctors who believe in humane and safe medicine will not let this lethal practice enter our hospitals without reacting. Whether we work in family medicine groups, in hospitals or in long-term care centres, we will not stand idly by while a few doctors, unaware of the evil they commit, kill our fragile patients.

Looking back, it was foreseeable from the beginning of the Parliamentary Committee on Dying with Dignity in 2009 that this law would be adopted. From the very first moment the words of the Commissioners left little doubt about their intentions and the fact that the decision to introduce euthanasia had already been made.

Now, a new fight begins, a legal one, because we believe that the provisions of this Act which introduce euthanasia into our health care system are constitutionally invalid. The battle has just begun.

The Physicians ‘Alliance against Euthanasia has 600 members and 12,000 supporters.

Source: The Physicians ‘Alliance against Euthanasia. Follow us on Twitter at @collectifmed
For further information or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia
438-938-9410
info@soignertoujours.com