Yesterday, the Federation des Medecins Specialistes du Quebec (FMSQ) released results of a survey of their membership in which 3/4 of respondents indicate support for the concept of euthanasia. The FMSQ is a collective of 35 different specialists organizations, interestingly none of them being palliative care specialists.
A story in today’s National Post accurately quotes me as comparing euthanasia with capital punishment, however the analogy is not completed in the text.
“The laws in our country don’t forbid suicide but they do forbid helping someone to take someone’s life and there’s good reason for that,” he said. “An individual may have a moment of expression about dying without a genuine desire to really do so. Look at the number of people who have been let out of prison because we found out they didn’t commit a crime. If we had the death penalty, we wouldn’t be able to do that.”
The completed analogy is that just as a momentary decision on capital punishment can have irrevocable consequences, so too would such a decision in regard to euthanasia or assisted suicide.
The story also quotes Dr. Jose Pereira, director of palliative care at the Bruyere Continuing Care Centre in Ottawa. I have had the privilege of listening to Dr. Pereira speak about his experiences with palliative care in Canada and in jurisdictions where euthanasia is legal. This is a man who has experienced the deep frustrations of seeing inadequately trained doctors choose euthanasia when palliative care would have relieved pain and extended life. He has also experienced the joys of seeing doctors whose eyes are opened to an understanding of contemporary palliative care treatments reverse any thoughts they might have had about the benefits of legal euthanasia.
Dr. Pereira is not the only palliative care specialist in the country. However, even the FMSC report notes strong support for the use of palliative sedation. The report also notes the division in understanding in regard to palliative sedation among specialists not trained in palliative care.
What we need is not authorization for doctors to end patient’s lives, but better training for doctors to end patient’s pain.
I stand by the other quote attributed to me in the National Post:
“I’m more likely to trust a doctor more interested in relieving my pain than a doctor who may have a willingness to take my life.”