{"id":2956,"date":"2017-05-19T19:17:31","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T23:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/collectif.lesartsmartial.com\/en\/?p=2956"},"modified":"2017-05-19T19:17:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T23:17:31","slug":"newsletter-may-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectifmedecins.org\/en\/newsletter-may-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsletter, May 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Physicians\u2019 Alliance against Euthanasia<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Newsletter, May 2017<\/span>
\nImprove care. Make Euthanasia unimaginable.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dear colleagues,<\/p>\n

Welcome to our newsletter. We hope it will be a helpful tool to communicate with you, our members and supporters; to share information; to highlight emerging research; to analyse and influence social and political developments. But above all, we hope to provide a meeting point, where those who believe in a truly human, life-respecting and Hippocratic medical practice, might explore together the experiences and methods which will enable us to effectively pursue that goal in our own work, even in the new and challenging environment created by recent legislative changes.<\/p>\n

Understandably, in the first flush of their victory, our recent adversaries have adopted an uncompromising triumphalistic tone which assumes all dissent is at an end. The other day I attended a session on the Quebec euthanasia law at the hospital where I work: Bill 52, one year later. Apparently, it is now abundantly clear that euthanasia is Pure Altruism and every patient\u2019s right, and so that any document whose authors hesitate about facilitating access to it is considered biased and unworthy of trust. Such, for instance, was the criticism we heard of the \u2013 very substantial— Discussion paper of the Association des m\u00e9decins psychiatres du Qu\u00e9bec<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is reasonable to assume however that, among physicians, psychiatrists have the greatest expertise in notions such as voluntariness, informed consent and competency… and they are far from being unanimously in favour of this new trend. Should we not listen to them?<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, the next day I met with a fascinating group of people who work in suicide prevention. Not a milieu I\u2019d been in touch with before. I\u2019ve been accustomed, when talking about the dangers of legal euthanasia, to reactions of polite silence followed by \u201cbut people should be allowed to choose\u201d, as if it settled everything. With this group I kept wondering when that familiar dogmatism was going to come out. One spoke after the other, from the front-line worker to the researcher to the psychologist… it never came. I finally realized: these people get it!<\/em> They see death. They know what the risks are. They\u2019ve seen the deadly vulnerability of people who contemplate suicide. They understand the ambivalence behind desires to die, and the fact that, with the skill that comes from empathy and experience, it can be turned around, turned into hope for a better life.<\/p>\n

The psychiatrists, the suicide prevention groups… and so it goes, also, with experts in palliative care, in pain management, and in the rehabilitation and maintenance of the disabled. The closer we approach those fields most directly concerned with the target clientele, the more resistance we find to the practice; the more ambivalence; the less certainty. Food for thought.<\/p>\n

In coming editions of this newsletter, we hope to provide profiles and interviews with doctors who have personal experience with these issues, with their patients, in their practice. With your participation and support, we hope to share ideas, discuss events and improve practice, to the benefit of all.<\/p>\n

Please send any comments or suggestions you might have.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking forward to hearing from you.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Catherine Ferrier MD
\nPresident<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Doctors’ voices<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n