By Taylor Breckles (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 2, 2014
People should be allowed to die, if they are truly committed. At the beginning of June, Quebec passed new legislation which allows patients to decide for themselves. This legislation is a big leap forward when it comes to having the right to do what we will with our own bodies.
Assisted suicide and euthanasia are still illegal in Canada; according to City TV News, Ottawa has no intention of changing their legality anytime soon. At least Quebec is moving forward.
According to the same news report, patients who desire to die will have to state it to their doctors multiple times, and be pronounced mentally sane before any dying can happen. This is to prevent hasty decisions: anyone not completely gung-ho for the idea should find comfort in knowing patients can’t decide to die at 1 p.m. and be dead an hour later.
This topic has always been controversial for religious or personal reasons, but I am all for it. As it is, our world is suffering a population crisis in certain areas of the world, so allowing people the right to die seems like a good idea.
Besides, if someone you love is suffering — physically or psychologically — and begging for death, I know I would want them to have the option to end it. Being in agony is no way to live.
I agree, however, that it shouldn’t be a one-day decision. People should think about it for a while before jumping into the waiting arms of Hades.
City TV News reports three main features of this legislation: “aims to expand palliative care; sets protocols for doctors sedating suffering patients until they die naturally; and offers guidelines to help patients who want to end their pain.”
Each terminally ill patient requesting death will have to meet an array of requirements, fill out a consent form, and have written permission from two doctors. It seems like the legislation will do a good job of weeding through the people who might not want to die to find the ones who truly do; there are a lot of measures preventing people from dying willy-nilly.
Undoubtedly, there will be people who like this legislature and some who don’t, but hopefully Quebec can prove that some people would rather die than live in suffering, and create similar opportunities for change in Canada.
People should be allowed to die, if they are truly committed. At the beginning of June, Quebec passed new legislation which allows patients to decide for themselves. This legislation is a big leap forward when it comes to having the right to do what we will with our own bodies.
Assisted suicide and euthanasia are still illegal in Canada; according to City TV News, Ottawa has no intention of changing their legality anytime soon. At least Quebec is moving forward.
According to the same news report, patients who desire to die will have to state it to their doctors multiple times, and be pronounced mentally sane before any dying can happen. This is to prevent hasty decisions: anyone not completely gung-ho for the idea should find comfort in knowing patients can’t decide to die at 1 p.m. and be dead an hour later.
This topic has always been controversial for religious or personal reasons, but I am all for it. As it is, our world is suffering a population crisis in certain areas of the world, so allowing people the right to die seems like a good idea.
Besides, if someone you love is suffering — physically or psychologically — and begging for death, I know I would want them to have the option to end it. Being in agony is no way to live.
I agree, however, that it shouldn’t be a one-day decision. People should think about it for a while before jumping into the waiting arms of Hades.
City TV News reports three main features of this legislation: “aims to expand palliative care; sets protocols for doctors sedating suffering patients until they die naturally; and offers guidelines to help patients who want to end their pain.”
Each terminally ill patient requesting death will have to meet an array of requirements, fill out a consent form, and have written permission from two doctors. It seems like the legislation will do a good job of weeding through the people who might not want to die to find the ones who truly do; there are a lot of measures preventing people from dying willy-nilly.
Undoubtedly, there will be people who like this legislature and some who don’t, but hopefully Quebec can prove that some people would rather die than live in suffering, and create similar opportunities for change in Canada.
