In recent issues of this Newsletter we have considered the dangers of different ongoing schemes for enlarging the qualifying criteria for euthanasia, to include people with dementia (by advance directive), “mature” minors (with or without parental consent or knowledge) and those for whom psychiatric illness is the sole underlying condition.
Unfortunately, by virtue of a challenge currently undertaken by Mr. Jean Truchon and Ms. Nicole Gladu before the Québec Superior Court, there is now something quantitatively much worse on the table: euthanasia for people who are not at the “end of life” (as required by the Quebec law) or for whom, contrary to what Canadian law requires, “natural death is not reasonably foreseeable”. In other words, doctors may soon be asked to “medically” kill people who are not dying. Continue reading editorial…
Make euthanasia unimaginable.
Sincerely,
Catherine Ferrier
President
Alliance news
Registration is currently open for the Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia 2nd bilingual medical conference, Improving Care 2019, which will take place in Montreal on Saturday, April 6th, 2019. Physicians, allied-health professionals and anyone with an interest in the conference topics are welcome.
Please send in your questions in advance to: info@collectifmedecins.org, for the panel discussion.
Conference topics include:
- Consent and capacity at the end of life (Dr. Louis Morissette)
- Medical-legal issues regarding MAiD and Conscience (Dr. Richard Mimeault, CMPA)
- Advanced pain management (Dr. Patrick Vinay)
- Palliative care at home (Dr. Golda Tradounsky and Joan Foster, N.)
- General public talk: The future of Palliative Care? (Dr. Stephen Liben)
Click here to download a PDF of the poster.
Doctor’s voices
Responses to two articles by Drs. Jeff Blackmer and Sandy Buchman in the British Medical Journal, promoting Canadian-style euthanasia and the CMA’s so-called “third way”.
Take off the rose-coloured glasses. A response to Drs Buchman and Blackmer, by Canadian palliative care physicians Leonie Herx, Srini Chary, Ed Dubland, Robin Fainsinger, David Henderson, Bernard Lapointe and Valerie Schulz.
Letter by Dr. Williard Johnston
CMA’s “third way” may be a third rail by Sean Murphy of the Protection of Conscience Project.
Amy Hendricks, internist at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish offers a physician’s perspective against pressure to offer MAiD at St. Martha’s Hospital: OPINION: As a doctor, I’m not here to facilitate death.
Why Euthanasia is Unethical and Why We Should Name it as Such by Leiva, Friesen & Lau, WMJ Dec 2018.
‘Doctors say no‘ is an Open Letter to all New Zealanders by doctors supporting the World Medical Association and New Zealand Medical Association position statements that euthanasia and assisted suicide are unethical, even if they were to become legal.
“Physician Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia of Patients with Non-Terminal Mental Disorders: An Emerging Ethical Crisis” A talk by Mark S. Komrad, MD.
A Reflection on Voluntary Assisted Dying and Conscientious Objection by Australian Palliative Medicine physician, Dr. Adrian Dabscheck
Call to action
The Quebec College of Family physicians is inviting members to submit their candidacy for the Board of directors. The Annual assembly will be held on May 31st, 2019. Deadline for submission: April 16th, 2019. More details here.
In the news
Canada’s new Justice Minister, David Lametti, may be more inclined than his predecessor to extend euthanasia to more vulnerable groups.
Two Quebecers with disabilities are challenging the end of life provision in the Quebec and Canadian euthanasia laws. The Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia is an intervener in this case. Interview with our lawyer Me Michel Racicot: Opposition à l’aide médicale à mourir (January 31, 2019)
Canadian Institute of Health Information report on access to Palliative Care in Canada.
If you have an article, letter or interview relevant to our work published in any media, please let us know at info@collectifmedecins.org.
From the trenches
A letter by K. Hetherington and G. Fecteau, President and chief executive officer of the Canadian Mental Health Association – Quebec Division and Montreal Branch, addressing MAiD for patients with psychiatric conditions.Original article available in French only: Exclure les patients psychiatriques de l’aide à mourir: Lettre en réponse au texte « L’aide médicale à mourir » réclamée pour certains patients atteints de troubles mentaux ».
An interview with Aubert Martin, the Executive Director of Living with Dignity reviewing euthanasia in Quebec (2018). Original interview available in French only: L’entrevue de Aubert Martin, le directeur général de Vivre dans la Dignité: « Bilan 2018 sur l’euthanasie au Québec »
Physicians in Canada should be moral actors, not robotic bureaucrats: Doctors should not be obliged to write referrals for procedures they find morally objectionable.
An article by Marie-Ève Veilleux, on the obstacles that cause suffering for people with disabilities. Original article available in French only: Ce qui fait souffrir les personnes handicapées
Investing in mental health to live with dignity. Original article in French only : Investir en santé mentale pour vivre dans la dignité
Mario Dumont, who supported “medical aid in dying”, reflects on what Gladu and Truchon are asking for… maybe it’s aid in suicide, not “aid in dying”. Original article available in French only: Il faudra dire « suicide assisté »
Resources
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: How we fail vulnerable Canadians as they die and what to do about it. November 2018. Final Project Report for the Equitable Access to Care Study in Victoria, British Columbia.
NOVA Montreal launches the new Blue Cross Palliative Care Nursing mentoring program for home care nurses working in CLSCs in Quebec.
Events:
Dr. Catherine Ferrier will speak about Euthanasia in Quebec and Canada on Wednesday, February 27 at 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s Parish, 106A Anselme-Lavigne, Dollard des Ormeaux Qc, H9A 1N8.
In the literature
Nature Communications (2019) 10:207 Suicide among cancer patients. Zaorsky, N.G., Zhang, Y., Tuanquin, L., et al.
Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology Dec 2018 Withholding or withdrawing life support versus physician-assisted death: a distinction with a difference? McClelland, W. and Goligher, E.C.
New England Journal of Medicine Jan 2019; 380:211-213 Perspective: Better Words for Better Deaths. DeForest, A.
New England Journal of Medicine, ;January 2019; 380:311-313 Perspective: When a Patient Dies by Suicide — The Physician’s Silent Sorrow Miller, D.
If you come across articles that could be of interest to colleagues in the Alliance please send the reference to info@collectifmedecins.org.
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