Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Jocelyn Downie: is planning to spin the truth at McGill University

An article written by Olivia D’Orazio and published in the Canadian Lawyer Magazine on December 29, 2010; explains that Jocelyn Downie will once again be spinning her false arguements concerning the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada.

Downie, a long-time advocate for the legalization of euthanasia, who published the book: Dying Justice: A Case for Decriminalizing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada and who has been working with a one-sided committee on behalf of the Royal Society of Canada to produce a document that will promote the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, will be speaking on January 13, 2011 at McGill University.

Downie is quoted as stating in the article:
“My ideal [situation] would be that it, euthanasia and assisted suicide, be taken out of the Criminal Code and be handled through a commission that oversees what’s going on and sets out very clear standards under which euthanasia or assisted suicide can be practised.”

It appears that Downie would like Canada to legalize euthanasia in a similar manner to that of the Netherlands and Belgium. Both of those nations have such a commission and both of those nations have allowed the practise of euthanasia to grow, while turning a blind-eye to acts that are outside of the law.

In the Netherlands, they have approved the Groningen Protocol that sanctions the killing of babies born with disabilities. If you think that this is a compassionate way to ease human suffering then you need to read about the Nazi T4 euthanasia program.

Also, the last government report (2005) showed that 550 people in the Netherlands were killed without explicit request or consent and it was estimated that 20% of all euthanasia deaths were not reported.

If you think that is bad, you need to read about the Belgium euthanasia program. The official government report claims that their are no abuses with the application of the Belgium euthanasia law, but three recent independent studies have proven that euthanasia is - out of control - in Belgium.

The first study found that 32% of all euthanasia deaths are without explicit request or consent in the Flanders region of Belgium.

The second study found that 45% of all euthanasia deaths that are done by a nurse are without explicit request or consent in the Flanders region of Belgium.

The Third study found that 47.8% of all euthanasia deaths are not reported in the Flanders region of Belgium.

Downie then spins the truth by stating:
“I’m not sure how familiar people are with the data and the evidence that’s coming out of countries that have started to allow euthanasia and assisted suicide,” she says. “People still make the ‘slippery slope’ argument . . . but there’s no evidence for this.”

No evidence that a slippery slope exists? What about the recent studies in Belgium?

What about the fact that euthanasia began in the Netherlands for people who were terminally ill and suffering physical pain and now the law extends to people with chronic depression and newborn babies with disabilities.

She is then quoted as saying:
"In 2008, only 88 prescriptions were written for lethal medications under the state’s Death with Dignity Act, and only 54 patients carried out their plans for physician-assisted suicide."

Either she doesn't know the facts or the author quoted her wrong. In 2008, 88 prescriptions lethal prescriptions were written and 60 people died by assisted suicide in Oregon (not 54). Where she might have gotten the number 54 was the fact that Compassion & Choices, the suicide lobby group in Oregon, facilated 53 of 60 assisted suicide deaths in Oregon in 2008.

By the way, Compassion & Choices facilitated 57 of 59 assisted suicide deaths in Oregon in 2009.

Therefore the lobby group that promotes the legalization of assisted suicide is the same group that facilitates the law.

No worry about a 'slippery slope' because the suicide lobby will simply control how the law is implemented and how the physician reports are submitted.

I am disappointed with Downie who claims to be an objective researcher. She simply ignores the real data, promotes the propaganda like Margaret Battin did in her false study in 2007 while hoping that only a few people will catch her spin.

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