Assisted Dying Bill — committee stage

What should they be considering?

I have terminal brain cancer. My oncologist says I should expect a gradual decline and a peaceful death. My wife and I danced out of her office when she told us. I don’t expect to need assisted dying myself but I have known dozens of cancer patients who have died terrible deaths — including several who have opted for MAiD in Oregon and Canada.

With the Assisted Dying Bill back in the news as the parliamentary committee gets underway, it’s worth thinking about the concerns of its opponents. As much as supporters like me think the bill could be more liberal, there is no way the bill will survive its third reading without careful consideration of other views.

There is a trade-off between doing what is right for people dying in pain and providing reassurance to people afraid of coercion. Some people will inevitably feel pressure (whether intentional or not) to end their lives early and the bill will have to make it clear that this will not be acceptable.

A Good Death

I don’t believe for one moment that doctors will coerce their patients to choose an early death. The bill will make it clear that this will not be allowed and doctors have too much to lose to risk violating the law. The people who claim this will happen — or that the government will use assisted dying to save on healthcare costs — are disingenuous when they use examples from Canada as Canada’s law is very different from ours. This has not happened in Oregon, California or Washington which have laws more similar to the proposed law here. Even their examples from Canada are questionable.

The real challenge will be sons and daughters who, in all kindness, ask a dying parent to consider assisted death. To make it through Parliament, the bill needs to find a way to limit this. There is too much focus on the hypothetical greedy grandson who wants to inherit a dying grandma's property a few weeks early. The more realistic scenario is the daughter who wants to save her mother from a painful death.

I don't entirely understand the opposition from the disabled community since disabled people would not even be eligible for assisted dying unless they are already dying of a terminal illness. Nevertheless, we must try to understand their concerns.

One last point: a lot of opponents hold up the idea of a patient choosing an assisted dying because they fear becoming a burden as a reason to oppose the bill. But this is exactly the circumstance that would make me choose an assisted death.

I think of my wife and family having to deal with my final weeks. I think they could cope with a week or a month of cleaning my dying body and turning me to avoid bed sores. Much longer than that and I fear they would start to forget the man they love and instead be distressed by the body on the bed in front of them. I would rather we have the option to share my death together and say our goodbyes while our love still shines bright.

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