Posted on 02/16/2010 3:50:42 PM PST by wagglebee
QUEBEC CITY, Quebec, February 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Doctors are already euthanizing patients in Quebec hospitals, the Quebec government's legislative committee on the “right to die with dignity” heard yesterday.
The committee began a series of consultations with 30 experts and organizations yesterday, hearing from the Federation of Quebec Medical Specialists (FMSQ) and the Quebec College of Physicians (CMQ).
Gaétan Barrette, FMSQ's president, told the committee that euthanasia is already being practiced in the province, as doctors know when death is “imminent and inevitable.”
He asked for the province to develop clear policies on how doctors can bring about a patient's death, stating that currently doctors believe they could be charged with murder for giving a “palliative sedative” to a patient before they have reached the point of death.
“Doctors are ready to debate euthanasia,” Barrette said, comparing the change in thinking about euthanasia with that of abortion in years past.
Palliative sedation is the practice of relieving the pain of a patient on his or her death bed by administering pain medication. In the effort to relieve a patient's pain, it can sometimes happen that the dose of pain medication is increased to lethal levels, resulting in the patient's death. Ethicists have typically clearly delineated between palliative sedation, in which death is an unintended effect of legitimate care, and euthanasia, which is the intentional ending of a patient’s life.
However, the FMSQ and the CMQ argue that this medical practice amounts to a form of euthanasia, and maintain that doctors could face charges for the practice under current Canadian law.
The CMQ presented the committee with their November 3rd reflection document yesterday and delivered a presentation based on that reflection.
The reflection document argued that there are “certain exceptional situations” where euthanasia would be part of appropriate end-of-life care, and thus called for its legalization. They advocated that euthanasia be “integrated as a part of appropriate end-of-life care as soon as possible.”
Announcing the release of the document in November, CMQ Secretary Dr. Yves Robert stated, “We are saying death can be an appropriate type of care in certain circumstances. This is a major breakthrough.”
But Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, insists that the proper use of palliative sedation does not constitute euthanasia, and that the medical practice has been upheld by the courts. Doctors, he says, are not risking criminal charges for the practice.
Schadenberg says he believes that the Quebec doctors are either “deliberately misleading the public” by claiming that the proper use of palliative sedation is euthanasia, or they are being “pleasantly honest” in admitting that doctors are criminally abusing sedatives to kill their patients.
“If [doctors] are abusing [the sedatives], then they're correct” that sedation is euthanasia, he said. “If they're not abusing [them], then they're not correct.”
“They're admitting that they're doing something improper, and then they're saying that because we're doing something improper, now we should legalize it,” he explained.
To the Quebec physicians he addressed the rhetorical question: “If I can't trust you to remain within an ethical code when it's illegal, then how am I supposed to trust you that if [euthanasia] were legal you would remain in that ethical code?”
“Because the abuse is happening already, that is resulting in euthanasia deaths, then what kind of abuse will take place when you legalize it?”
The Quebec legislative committee is set to hear from a number of euthanasia proponents, such as Jocelyn Downie of Dalhousie University, as well as euthanasia opponents like Dr. Margaret Somerville of McGill University. They will use the expert testimony to develop a consultation document for a travelling public consultation, which is scheduled for the fall.
While euthanasia falls under the Criminal Code, which is a federal matter, the Quebec government has said that they wish to form a consensus on euthanasia in the province in order to pressure Ottawa for a change in the law.
A bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, Bill C-384, is currently before the Canadian Parliament. The vote has been pushed back several times so far, and is currently expected for the middle of March.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Quebec Government Set to Initiate Public Debate on the "Right to Die"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09120412.html
Pro-Life MP Disappointed that Vote on Euthanasia Bill Has Been Delayed Again
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09120306.html
'Is the Quebec College of Physicians Deliberately Confusing Canadians on Euthanasia?' Asks Anti-Euthanasia Leader
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09110411.html
New Poll Reveals that Canadians are Conflicted About Legal Euthanasia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09110301.html
Former Dutch Health Minister Admits Error of Legalizing Euthanasia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09120207.html
Anti-Euthanasia Group Questions Survey Suggesting Quebec MDs are Favorable to Euthanasia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09101404.html
“Because the abuse is happening already, that is resulting in euthanasia deaths, then what kind of abuse will take place when you legalize it?”
Excellent point!
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A lot of murderers are very proud of their handiwork.
Comming to a city near you once they get Obamacare passed. Just a matter of time.
...respected, honored as legitimate medicine, and subsidized by the government.
(just finishing the thought)
Be sure to remind me that they got "killer docs" in Canada these days ~ and have had them for quite some time.
Codifying end stage decisions which are now illegal would narrow the circumstances when it would be legal. This could keep physicians from accepting it when the decision might be less clear cut and acceptable.
Having cared for my dying mother and husband, I know how difficult and complicated these decisions can be. They both had prepared advanced directives that were very clear they did not want to die in a hospital with feeding tubes and IV’s. They died peacefully at home of natural processes with on-call doctor consultation and nurse visits.
This is the natural outcome of nationalized health care and a growing secular population...May God have mercy on us..
I have feeling that God is becoming increasingly unhappy with us, in fact it is quite possible that the only mercy we are experiencing from Him is the result of His promise to Noah.
I’d be more interested in seeing these doctors executed as the murderers they are.
Rename, repackage, rewrite it a tad smaller, and sell another pig in a poke.
Tennessee has joined several other states in trying to pass a Health Care Freedom Act. NO COLAs for granny, retired Military or retired fed employees. BIG NEW fees for Tricare for Life retired over 65 Military's secondary health ins. (DOD bill already passed, delayed but goes into effect 2011)
New Dem mantra: Woof, woof eat dog food granny....ala let them eat cake.
TRI CARE FOR LIFE This from a google search:
http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2009/05/tricare-for-life-is-obama-trying-to.html
This option would help reduce the costs of TFL, as well as costs for Medicare, by introducing minimum out-of pocket requirements for beneficiaries. Under this option, TFL would not cover any of the first $525 of an enrollee’s cost-sharing liabilities for calendar year 2011 and would limit coverage to 50 percent of the next $4,725 in Medicare cost sharing that the beneficiary incurred. (Because all further cost sharing would be covered by TFL, enrollees could not pay more than $2,888 in cost sharing in that year.)
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva110609-1.htm
Bill Would Restrict Veterans’ Health Care Options 11/06/09
Buyer and McKeon Offer Amendments to Protect Veterans and TRICARE Beneficiaries
Congress plans to block Tricare fee increases
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w
By Rick Maze - Staff writer, Oct 7, 2009
Tricare fee increases imposed last week by the Defense Department will be repealed by a provision of the compromise 2010 defense authorization bill unveiled Wednesday by House and Senate negotiators.
Snip
The fee increases were announced on Sept. 30 and took effect on Oct. 1, but the defense bill, HR 2647, includes a provision barring any fee increases until the start of fiscal 2011.
Snip
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bill Matz, president of the National Association for Uniformed Services, said the announcement of fee increases was shocking considering that the Obama administration promised earlier this year to hold off on any new fee Tricare fee increases until fiscal 2011.
“President Obama and DoD assured NAUS and the entire military family earlier this year that there would rightly be no increases in any Tricare fees” in fiscal 2010, Matz said. “We took them at their word, and I can’t believe that a co-pay increase like this was allowed to go forward,” he added.
Bambi doesn't keep his promises...so buyer beware.
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