Canada: My life, my choice

Description:

Contradicting his paper's negative editorial stance on Bill C-384, a National Post political columnist, Matt Gurney, writes: "How a citizen chooses to face the final phase of their life is not the business of the state, of any religious faith, or of the body politic of the nation at large."

"The process of establishing a workable euthanasia regime would be arduous and complex, and would involve many morally difficult questions. Granted. But these issues must seem very remote indeed to a person lingering in horrible pain while society hysterically debates the fine points of morality. I don't know what choice I'd make. But I demand the right to make it as a thinking individual, for my own reasons, and not as an unwitting pawn in yet another protracted battle in the culture war."

[Below is an OpEd piece in keeping with the usual Canwest position, authored by Margaret Somerville. Also a review of the 60 Minutes television report that sparked the above opinion piece.]

[Note: Some other recent stories related to this topic are in the Links: section below.]

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past advisories on the web (see bottom.)

  • http://tinyurl.com/yaj9wmv

  • http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2258261

    Also see:

  • Canada: Defining human dignity [The Montreal Gazette, Canwest]
    http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Defining+human+dignity/2252612/story.html

    Margaret Somerville, director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University: "I proposed that linking the secular and the sacred, by adopting a concept of the secular sacred, can help to unite everyone who accepts that some things are sacred, whether they see the sacred's source as religious or purely natural or secular. In short, the "secular sacred" is a concept we can endorse whether or not we are religious, and, if we are religious, no matter which religion we follow."

  • USA: 60 Minutes Highlights Problem of Americans "Dying Badly" [Compassion & Choices]
    http://compassionandchoices.org/blog/?p=757

    This program sparked the National Post editor's piece above. The link is to the Compassion & Choices review. "'Families cannot imagine there could be anything worse than their loved one dying. But in fact, there are things worse,' says Dr. Ira Byock in the broadcast. 'Most generally, it's having someone you love die badly — dying, suffering, dying connected to machines.' Byock heads the palliative care program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H."

  • Canada: MP says majority of Grits and Tories seem to be against bill [Times & Transcript]
    http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/864921

    "Murphy is a former Moncton mayor and lawyer who now serves as vice-chairman of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. He said the feeling around Parliament Hill on the bill is that it opens too many doors of interpretation, which could lead to a "slippery slope" for the medical community and people who are determined to fight their illnesses. For example, he said it could result in people with terminal cancer getting less treatment than they deserve."

  • Ottawa can't ignore euthanasia debate forever [EuthaNEWSia, Oct 19]
    http://www.euthanewsia.ca/archive/2009/10/enid200910198503.4.html

    Another pro-euthanasia piece from the stridently anti-euthanasia Canwest flagship National Post, written by their national affairs columnist.

Source:

Gurney, Matt. "My life, my choice". National Post. Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009. <www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2258261>. The National Post, 1450 Don Mills Road, Suite 300, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3R5.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • euthanasia

  • Bill C-384, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (right to die with dignity)

  • Canada

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid200911242423.
Mailed: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 14:23:20 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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