Title: A Petit Research on Euthanasia in Canada and Why I Say “NO”
It is not easy to walk the end part of our life journey. However, we can’t refuse to walk the end journey only because we don’t like it. Enjoyment and sorrow are both earnests of life.
In what countries is euthanasia legal nowadays in the world?
Active euthanasia is only legal in the Netherlands and Belgium. Non-active euthanasia, or assisted suicide, is legal in three US States: Oregon, Washington and Montana. Assisted suicide is legal in Albania and Luxembourg.
Until now, neither passive euthanasia nor active euthanasia is legal in Canada.
The difference between passive euthanasia and active euthanasia is “……passive euthanasia, the doctor does not do anything to bring about the patient’s death. The doctor does nothing and the patient dies of whatever ills already afflict him. In active euthanasia, however, the doctor does something to bring about the patient’s death: he kills him.” (James Rachels)
Canada laws on living wills and passive euthanasia are a legal dilemma. The following is a briefing of the history of euthanasia in Canada since more than three decades ago, which can help us understand some background.
1980, the Canadian pro-euthanasia group Dying with Dignity was founded in June.
1983, The Law Reform Commission of Canada released its Report on Euthanasia, Aiding Suicide and Cessation of Treatment. This report denied legalizing the active euthanasia and aiding suicide. It also recommended amending the Criminal Code to allow a physician to stop medical treatment where the treatment is against a patient’s wish where the treatment is useless and prolongs patient’s hopeless suffering.
1984, a joint statement: DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) was established on terminal illness, issued by the Canadian Nursing Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Hospital Association with consolidation from the Catholic Health Association of Canada and the Law Reform Commission.
1991, The Right to Die Society was formed in Victoria BC.
1992, Canada’s first not for profit anti-euthanasia organization: The Compassionate Healthcare Network (CHN) was formed in Surrey BC.
On October 26, 2005, a strong warning of not to legalize physician assisted suicide or euthanasia in Canada was issued by a group of 61 physicians and 39 lawyers. They stated, “We do not want to become the executioners of our patients.”
The people who pro euthanasia believe “one’s body and one’s life are one’s own.” And they also believe that a patient in intolerable pain has the right to end that pain with death. As mentioned above, the “Right to Die Society of Canada” was formed by a small group of proponents of euthanasia. They strongly point out that if a patient wishes to die but can’t physically commit the act, his physician or another person appointed should be able to assist him, maybe drug-induced and hardly coping, to die with dignity. They listed their three reasons for euthanasia:
1. Unbearable pain
2. Right to commit suicide
3. People should not be forced to stay alive.
However, when we look deep into these three reasons, we can use a philosophy student’s insight as the conclusion, “If anything, I think many of our reactions come not from an overexposure to death, but from an aversion to suffering, and an unwillingness or hesitancy to prolong pain.”
Personally, I am strongly against euthanasia. I might be thought as a person without any mercy towards those end-life patients who suffer a lot from overwhelming agony and excruciating pain, plus, they can not move, struggle on breathing……However, as a surgical nurse has been working more than five years on medical/surgical floor, how can I be unable to understand that torture? As a daughter of a cancer patient who had been fighting with a fatal disease for 16 years and lost the battle in his 13th operation, how can I be ignorant and fail to understand the pain and fear? A year and half ago, my beloved father-in-law passed away after months of coma and being paralyzed that followed after trials of chemotherapies and a massive lung-open operation. How can I don’t know what the “end” means?
Notwithstanding my painful experience, I still say “NO”, firmly, to euthanasia. I will never forget that day an old neighbor of my father-in-law climbed tremblingly two-floor stairs up to see him. She had a stroke years ago and shivers like Parkinson’s all the time. I remember her sitting there, facing my paralyzed father-in-law and speaking in a very low tone, “It is not easy to walk the end part of our life journey.” I was shocked by her plain words, they sounded like mecifulless, but it’s actually so powerful that sparked my memory of those palliative patients who are lying in deathbeds and their surrounding families. Yes, it is not easy to walk the end part of our life journey. However, we can’t refuse to walk the end journey only because we don’t like it. Enjoyment and sorrow are both earnests of life.
We see infants coming into this world joyfully and see elderly passing way sadly. Our life is like the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. As we get to know the nature of the works of God through sweetness and bitterness, we also enjoy the nature of life through the laughs and tears.
Let the life be.
On the other hand, if the euthanasia becomes legal, then a major problem will raise: how can we prevent its abuse? What if the mercy killing becomes an obligation? What if these impatient heirs abuse euthanasia to get what they want?
Techniques have been approved tremendously to control cancer pain, surgical pain and reduce palliative sufferings. As human being, we can not kill but let us work together to bring a little bit more comfort to these end-life patients. Let us walk with them with patience, love and understanding through the last part of their journey, and let the life be.
