The government of Québec tabled a bill in June proposing to legalize euthanasia under the guise of “medical aid in dying”.
Many physicians in the province are opposed to the bill. Among them, Dr. Balfour Mount known as the founder of palliative care in Canada said : “Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide make it necessary for society to legalize killing – ending life. It’s a switch in goals.”
Dr. Marc Beauchamp works as an orthopedic surgeon and is the spokesman for the Physicians’ Alliance for the Total refusal of Euthanasia. He explained exactly what the bill entails: “Active euthanasia – what Mme. Hivon calls medical aid in dying – is to fill a syringe with a deadly substance and inject it, such that the person dies a few seconds or a few minutes later.”
Dr. Catherine Ferrier’s field of practice is geriatrics. As a spokeswoman for the Physicians’ Alliance for the Total refusal of Euthanasia, she commented that “Hospitals have to be a safe place where you know that the doctors are not going to kill you.”
Legalizing euthanasia would fundamentally alter the role of the physician from healer to killer. Both patient and physician need to be protected from this practice.
