Photo via wikimedia.org

World Congress of Families: Canadian bill could open Pandora’s coffin

The Canadian Parliament could vote as early as Wednesday (April 21) on Bill C-384 which would legalize both euthanasia and assisted-suicide in Canada. World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs warned that passage of the bill would open a Pandora’s coffin, reports World Congress of Families.

“What’s being sold as compassion – death with dignity – will open the door for involuntary euthanasia or mercy killing,” Jacobs warned.

Among other perils, the bill doesn’t limit euthanasia or assisted suicide to the terminally ill. (It doesn’t even define “terminal illness.”) If it becomes law, it could be used to hasten the deaths of the chronically depressed and others who should be treated for mental illness, instead of killed.

For the purposes of the law, competence would be based on “appearing lucid,” whether or not the patient was actually competent. It would also apply to individuals who were clearly incompetent at the time of their deaths, if they were competent when they expressed their intensions.

Jacobs warned: “In the Netherlands (site of World Congress of Families V, August 10-12, 2009), euthanasia was allowed by the courts in the mid-1980s. By 1995, euthanasia and assisted suicide were responsible for 3 percent of all deaths in the country. According to a 2005 study, while there were 2,300 cases of ‘authorized euthanasia,’ and 400 cases of assisted suicide in that year, a doctor acted without patients’ specific consent in an additional 550 cases. In other words, the physicians decided on their own that their patients would be better off dead and acted accordingly.”

Canadians need to consider the natural evolution of such a law, Jacobs urged. “Once so-called death with dignity gains a foothold in Canada, what horrors will follow – elderly parents being put to death for financial gain, the bedridden being pressured to end their lives to conserve medical resources, parents killing their handicapped children (to spare themselves the burden), mass distribution of suicide pills?”

World Congress of Families urges Canadians to consider the ramifications, both long and short-term, of the vote on Bill C-384.

The Congress also commends the Canadian-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (a World Congress of Families Partner) and its Executive Director, Alex Schadenberg, for their tireless work in alerting Canadians to the real consequences of C-384.

SALE! 40% OFF! How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week

TAGS: Canada Bill C-384 euthanasia assisted-suicide World Congress of Families Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

[04/21/2010]

Print Version