Dear editor,
Most of the ink spilled in our local end-of-life-care debate makes a dangerous assumption: medically assisted death is now ‘a legal option,’ so we ‘deserve the right to choose’ it.
Our friends accept that the Supreme Court and Parliament, with all their official authority for determining personal rights, have settled the discussion. But many moral questions remain unanswered. The Christian gospel still teaches that we are made for life, not death; that choosing one’s own death violates human dignity; and that there is a satisfying way to await death’s approach without fear. It is foolish to assume that current Canadian law is the appropriate or even an acceptable solution.
In a curious hypocrisy, revealing their own religious antipathy to ‘faith-based organizations’, our friends oppose continuing public funding for any hospice care without immediate access to assisted dying.
The truth is, in a publicly funded system, citizens who oppose medically aided suicide are forced to support the religious ‘dogma’ of those who view the same as a right. How is that less offensive than the policy at St. Joseph’s?
Brendon Johnson
Courtenay