CCCB wants to appear before parliamentary committee
OTTAWA (CCN)
The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked the Justice Minister for an invitation to appear before the physician-assisted dying committee.
“Most regrettably, Canada has become somewhat indifferent to how human life is demeaned and devalued in ways such as abortion, and is now on the brink of allowing suicide to be considered a medical procedure,” Hamilton Bishop Douglas Crosby wrote in a Jan. 20 letter to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. “The experiences of those few other nations which have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide indicate that any legislation intended to limit these solely to certain cases is easily challenged and soon weakened.”
The CCCB president warned of the “predictable” impact of legalizing assisted suicide, among them: continued efforts to expand the scope of who qualifies for an assisted death; growing anxiety ; among vulnerable people, including the handicapped, the chronically-ill and the dying; erosion of patient/physician trust; the increased pressure on health care providers; and a greater risk of family and social pressure on the vulnerable not to ‘be a burden.'”
“By focusing so narrowly on the liberty and preferences of a small minority of individuals, the Supreme Court has voided our society’s moral obligation to protect the lives of its members, especially the most vulnerable and feeble,” he said, noting the “detrimental impact” suicide already makes on the lives of Canadians and their communities and how it “can sinisterly and tragically encourage others to take their own lives.”
Bishop Crosby noted rates of suicide are especially high among Canada’s aboriginal youth, and other vulnerable groups.
“With the Supreme Court’s decision, the false economics of physician-assisted suicide will inevitably tempt governments, health-care institutions and families not to invest further in palliative care,” Bishop Crosby warned. “Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have already been idealized by media, and a number of Canadians and their institutions now portray it as a ‘right.'”
The CCCB president reiterated the bishops’ call to “prioritize” a commitment to palliative care across Canada.
“The palliative care philosophy is person-centered, family-focused and community based,” he wrote. “It moves us from disease or condition-specific care to person-centred care. It recognizes that the psycho-social and spiritual dimensions have profound impact upon health and wellbeing, and that a variety of specific conditions may be operating on different levels in the chronically ill or dying person’s life.”
Though noting the Catholic bishops would have preferred the federal government invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to suspend the Carter decision for an additional five years, Bishop Crosby said.
In addition to palliative care, the bishops call for funding for pain relief research and education; a national suicide prevention plan; avoidance of a patchwork approach to assisted-death; and a guarantee no health-care provider or institution “be coerced into providing, facilitating or abetting assisted suicide,” or forced to refer.
