This post form the Total Refusal of Euthanasia Blogsite: Four palliative care providers exclude medical aid in dyingFour Quebec residences, including Maison Michel Sarrazin (first of its kind in Canada), have so far officially said they would not practice "medical aid in dying". Continue reading

The passage of Bill-52 through the Quebec Parliament a month ago sent shock waves across Canada and the Western World; as much because of the bill's provisions as the haste with which the debate was held. This vote ignored the opposition of the Canadian Medical Association, and the stated opposition of the Federal Government. The bill is already the subject of a legal challenge which, we hope will be joined by the Canadian Government in Ottawa.Australian Academic and Canadian resident, Margaret Somerville tackled the substantive issues in the Montreal Gazette shortly after the bill passed. Much, if not all, of her article applies to the new bill before committee in the Australian Senate. Continue reading

Recently Melbourne doctor and vice president of the Victorian pro-euthanasia organisation, Dr Rodney Syme wrote in The Saturday Paper arguing for a change in the language around euthanasia. Like his namesake in George Orwell's 1984, his is a form of Newspeak. Alex Schadenberg blogged about an article in the Canadian press that would answer Syme and his 'Ministry of Truth' colleagues:The National Post published an excellent article titled: Why can't we say euthanasia? concerning the passage of Québec euthanasia Bill, by Lise Ravary, a columnist and Blogger for Le Journal de Montréal. Continue reading

Euthanasia: Death is not preferable to living with a significant disability. Norman KuncI'm a non-religious man with cerebral palsy. I oppose legalizing euthanasia because i've seen far too many unrequested do-not-resuscitate orders placed on my disabled friends and colleagues. This occurs because many doctors, like most of society, believe that death is preferable to living with a significant disability. Continue reading

This article was written by Derek Miedema and published in the Waterloo RecordBy Derek Miedema Continue reading

 As stated by the CMA, the national dialogue on end-of-life care focused on three issues: advanced care planning, palliative care, and euthanasia and physician assisted dying. The secondary focus of the CMA national dialogue was to establish common definitions and terminology and to inform Canadians of the current legal and legislative framework on these issues. The outcome of the CMA national dialogue was published on the CMA website June 10, 2014 through a  and a 17 page document titled:  Continue reading

I have discussed the contents of new law at length previously and I don't want to repeat myself. However, the bill did undergo some changes since I wrote about it, and there are certain sections of the new law that need to be emphasized, so here goes: The euphemism for homicide in the law is "aid in dying,"which in turn, is defined as part of "end of life care."Receiving "end of life care"�including euthanasia�is now a positive right. Continue reading

By Steve Passmore Steven Fletcher MP has introduced euthanasia bills with language that specifically focuses on people with disabilities because his bills are about him dying by euthanasia.Steven Passmore Continue reading

Having been diagnosed by a physician with an illness, a disease or a disability (including disability arising from traumatic injury) that causes intolerable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated by any medical treatment acceptable to that person, or; Being in a state of weakening capacity with no chance of improvement and being of sound mind and capable of fully understanding the information provided to him or her under other sections of the law. Continue reading

This lack of humanity and vision should be worrisome to everyone, including retirees, older persons, individuals with any type of disability (emotional or physical) and residents of long-term care facilities. Instead of recognizing the strides that have been made in the management of pain and noxious symptoms by hospice palliative care specialists over more than three decades, a few want to kill or be killed as a solution. So much for the so-called demanding autonomy of "I want what I want when I want it."We are experiencing a death by execution culture, morbidly concentrating on euthanizing and hastening death. The more gruesome the situation, the more it is capitalized on and highlighted. What happens that Canadians must suffer any type of painful death? It signifies failure in a system that knows better. We are failing to teach hospice palliative care and pain management for all types of pain - physical, emotional, spiritual/ existential - to our nursing and medical students. We fail to provide funding for excellence in end-of-life care. We fail to conduct ongoing education for our current care providers. We have failed to teach Canadians what is and should be available to everyone during a life-threatening or terminal illness. Continue reading