With MP Francine Lalonde’s euthanasia bill — aka C-384 — just around the corner, it never hurts to brush-up on the reasons why euthanasia is wrong. This latest article from Margaret Somerville doesn’t present any new and improved arguments but reminds us why euthanasia, even when justified by compassion, is never morally defensible.
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I think there is one aspect of this issue that I would like to hear explored, but I haven’t yet heard it brought up in the public sphere–that is, when someone asks for assisted suicide, or euthanasia, what they are asking for is for a doctor to be complicit in their death.
I think that needs to be said again: when you ask a doctor for euthanasia, you are, in essence, asking a doctor to become a killer on your behalf.
We think long and hard about sending our troops off to war because, not only do we realize that war inevitably brings with it innocent casualties, but also because we know that it is incredibly difficult and traumatic for our soldiers to be put into a situation where they are required to kill other human beings. War causes post-traumatic stress disorder, and the soldiers that come back are often not the same people that they were when they left.
We’re worried about protecting the mental health of our troops, why not our doctors?
And really, are doctors lining up in the ranks to provide this “service”? They spend considerable time and energy learning how to save and defend life–are there really a significant number of them who would be keen to provide euthanasia to their patients? I know I’m naive, but I can’t see that too many doctors would be all to keen on counseling their patients on how to commit suicide.
So if euthanasia does become legal, (that is still a big if, but it could happen) what I foresee happening is this. Certain doctors will become known for prescribing suicide drugs or committing euthanasia. Most doctors will have nothing to do with the procedure.
Kind of like abortion.
Here is a terrifically informative article chronicling the 40 year long experiment with euthanasia in the Netherlands. This is a horrifying story. See: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/03/sympathectomy-of-the-soul