Are we about to make the leap from medical euthanasia to assisted suicide as if it were normal?
The question is valid.
Because in 2023, Ottawa will open the door to MAID for people who only suffer from mental illness. On the Quebec side, we are working on the right to pre-program our death in the event of a diagnosis of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, which in a grand euphemism is called prior consent.
Carter verdict
There was a time when death was sacred, to be treated with the delicacy of a priceless gem.
Do we need to remember all the delicacy with which Quebec paved the way even before the Supreme Court decided the issue?
Then came the Carter judgment. The clear, sharp and precise judgment of the country’s highest court. Medical assistance in dying is a right for every adult in Canada to obtain informed consent and “to be afflicted with a serious and irremediable medical condition (including disease, affliction or disability) which is causing him or her persistent suffering that is unbearable for him or her, given his or her condition.
Almost 8 years later, now that medical euthanasia is a right, things are moving much faster.
A court has shaken the notion that a patient must be at the end of his life. The rest was only a matter of time.
Trojan horse
The idea of prior consent for people suffering from Alzheimer’s or other degenerative cognitive disorders quickly found consensus in Quebec.
The horror of seeing our loved ones suffer a hike that distorts their life purpose haunts too many families. At most, if we can protect ourselves and our loved ones.
But what reflection on the value of life, the value of old age, have we engaged ourselves in in this race for a dignified death? Would Alzheimer’s be so terrible if we took good care of our frail seniors?
I have no answer to this question that haunts me. All I know is that it has hardly been discussed outside the exclusive circle of expert committees and parliamentarians.
The ultimate taboo
In particular, the BGH does not distinguish between physical and mental illness.
The gear is engaged. People with mental health problems will have access to medical assistance when dying in Canada in the near future.
At best, Attorney General David Lametti granted an additional delay to ensure the necessary guidelines are in place.
The medical associations promise us that they can set up practical guidelines that avoid abuse.
So much better. But still…
Does the cult of progressivism in Canada necessitate that we have one of the most permissive regimes in the world regarding medical access to death?
Ottawa and Quebec will certainly take different paths, but the result remains the same: in 2023 we will now be living in the land of euthanasia.
