Canadian Doctors speak out against initiating requests for euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Victoria Australian legislature will be voting on a bill to expand their euthanasia law. The original legislation, included several "safeguards" including a requirement that only patients could initiate a request for euthanasia.

The Victoria euthanasia law expansion includes enabling physicians to initiate requests for euthanasia.

This video features three Canadian doctors, who explain how doctors initiating the request for euthanasia can lead to coercion.

Dr David D'Souza

Dr David D'Souza, who is a family physician and a pain specialist in Ontario said:

If a physician is suggesting euthanasia as an option or a treatment option for their pain or their suffering, then that is a very serious thing. As a patient is more likely to take this option given that a health professional has suggested it.

I think it does severe harm to the doctor patient relationship when physicians are now allowed and even suggesting euthanasia as a means to end their suffering.

Dr Will Johnston

Dr Will Johnston, a family physician in Vancouver British Columbia said:

Promises were made that no doctor would ever be coerced to participate in euthanasia, no doctor or nurse would ever lose their job because they wouldn't cooperate with euthanasia. No hospital would have to do it. No nursing home, no palliative care unit would be forced to host doctors killing patients who wanted to die. All of that was a complete fiction. All of those things have now happened.

Dr Catherine Ferrier

Dr Catherine Ferrier, Division of Geriatric Medicine, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal Quebec said:

I can tell you about a member of my family who had cancer. It was in his brain, the cancer, so it was influencing his thinking to some degree.

The first doctor that saw him said well we can do euthanasia or we could do palliative sedation and didn't give him any other options, like psycho-social support to help him to want to live, and things like that, and so I actually insisted and said what else can you offer him. He needs psychological help, psychiatric help. So he referred him to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist said, all he was interested in was knowing whether he was competent to make the decision or not and not whether there were other ways to address his suffering, which is like the essence of looking after people in a situation like that is how to address the suffering besides death. These two doctors were guys his age and I'm convinced that they looked at him and said: "I wouldn't want to be in his shoes so he's better off dead and he is competent to make this decision.

Previous articles about the Victoria Australia euthanasia law (Articles Link).