Assisted Suicide: Sign the Petition

This petition was designed by Irene Ogrizek. Irene became involved with opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide after fighting for the right of her mother to live.

Please click here to sign the petition.

Citizens of all countries are free to sign this petition. My politics, for the record, are left and centrist. I believe in a view of society that is not simply utilitarian: every sentient life deserves our protection and care. My focus is not religious or moral — I am not religious — it is about the risk assisted suicide poses for people with disabilities and the elderly.

When it comes to assisted suicide, I am a conscientious objector. Like those who oppose war, I oppose killing, even when it’s ‘mercy killing’. This is because I feel that mercy, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Vulnerable individuals in our healthcare system may die prematurely — if we stop valuing their lives, we send the wrong message to policy-makers and healthcare workers.

It almost happened to my mother. It is now 2014 and she is still alive, even though we were strongly urged to ‘let her go’ in 2008. After going public with our hospital experience and speaking to other Canadian families, I discovered we were not alone. The elderly in Canada (and the U.K. and U.S.) are often hastened toward death, even when they are not terminally ill. I have spoken to many family members who believe this has happened to a parent or grandparent.

Please click here to sign the petition.

Our Canadian government and national media outlets are not allowing for a full discussion of all the risks of assisted suicide. Attempts to do so have been discouraged and our arguments are not reaching the wider public. Even our nation’s broadcaster, the CBC, is unwilling to be impartial. It seems a concerted effort is being made to ‘manufacture consent’ in favour of assisted suicide.

A frank discussion about its risks is in order.

Allowing our nation’s healthcare workers — physicians and nurses — to euthanize patients endangers all of us. And so I am a conscientious objector: I do not want a system that endangers my life and the lives of others. Canada is a first world nation and we have the resources to manage illnesses humanely. Patients have the right to refuse treatment or to ask for terminal sedation; good options already exist.

I’m not sure what actions will follow from this petition, but objecting is a start. We need to get talking.

Link to a previous article by Irene Ogrizek
Euthanasia Statistics in Belgium.

Euthanasia statistics in Belgium.

The following article was written by Irene Ogrizek and published on her blog on December 15, 2013. Ogrizek is a politically left activist.

Irene Ogrizek

The Belgian population should be aware of the high level of paternalism among their physicians. One study shows that 60% of the surveyed physicians think that they should be able to decide to end the life of a patient who suffers unbearably and is incapable of making decisions…[no mention of terminal illness].
The Canadian media is being unkind to those of us who oppose euthanasia. I suspect a liberal bias is at the root of it. This means I have found myself, a committed leftist, feeling some empathy with Canada’s conservatives. They and many people who believe in God, are, like me, opposed to euthanasia.

This problem reminds me of another problem I saw in Toronto in the 1980s. It was a phenomenon called “not in my backyard” or NIMBY for short. In a Toronto context, this referred to downtown liberals who espoused liberal-sounding beliefs, but behaved quite differently when the people who benefitted from those beliefs wanted to move into their neighbourhoods. These are people I call buffet liberals. They are like Champagne Charlies but with a lot less charm.

I know from whence I speak. I am part of a global network of activists. We are concerned about how our parents are being treated in the Canadian, Belgian and U.K. healthcare systems. We have watched with dismay, disbelief and horror as they have been mercilessly shortchanged. We have seen bad nursing, bad doctoring and certainly bad administering. Our stories are legion in Canada, but you’d never know it from following our nation’s media.

Canada’s Healthcare System

The myth that the Canadian healthcare system is great is persistent: the NIMBY issue is the undesirable news that no, actually, in some places, it’s in tatters. I know bloggers who have simply given up because of the venom Canadians have directed at them for uttering words to this effect. This is what happens to those of us who dare to challenge the accepted wisdom. I really wish the Canadian media would get on board and listen to us and validate our stories. As it is, our absence means we are treated with far less respect than we deserve.

When it comes to euthanasia , proponents make two common refrains: one, that statistics from euthanasia-friendly countries do not support evidence of abuse; two, that reports of abuse – in Belgium and elsewhere – are anecdotal and sensationalist.

The following is mostly a list of facts culled from a series of Belgian studies directed at doctors and nurses. Raphael Cohen-Almagor is the author of “First do no harm: pressing concerns regarding euthanasia in Belgium,” and the text below is a summary of his most salient findings. He’s a euthanasia expert based at the University of Hull in the U.K.