The papers have been full lately of efforts by various governments to introduce or extend euthanasia.
Belgium’s Senate just passed a Bill that would extend the procedure to children by a vote of 50 to 7 and it now goes to their House for final vote.
Quebec has its Bill 52 which is intended to just kill adults but it is recognized that the Belgium experience plays heavily in Quebec so children will no doubt be added to the list of the doomed in due course.
Quebec always seems to lead the Rest of Canada in such things and for that we can be thankful – thankful that most of us do not live there.
Euthanasia is just another word for cheap – it makes life cheaper. And don’t think governments will not jump at the chance of easy outs – so to speak – with an ever growing aged population.
There are stories on both sides – those wishing to be prematurely set free from life and those that treasure life and are in no hurry to die. I am especially moved when I read the stories of the disabled – those who are so vulnerable, worrying that someone will come along and pull the plug on them without their consent.
Sadly they have good cause to worry.
A mother once mentioned to me that she had a girl baby that was seriously disabled and spent all her life in an institution. She could only communicate with her eyes and one day her mother mentioned to her grown up daughter by then – that it would probably have been best had she not been born. The daughter made it known to her mum that she was horrified at the thought and it reduced our friend to tears.
A few years later my wife and I attended the daughter’s funeral and it was a celebration of her life. Many of the staff and residents gave witness of how full their lives had become because of knowing this young woman.
One of the biggest complaints given by those proclaiming for euthanasia is that they fear the pain that comes from the latter stages of dying.
They need not – our family has been heavily involved in Hospice and Palliative Care for many years and advances in medicine in these important areas have brought pain, as well as other discomforts, fully under control.
So let the euthanasia debate begin.
Fortunately the issues are simple and clear forward -
Either life is sacred or it is not.
If the former wins out – it is euthanasia that should die.
Should the latter prove victorious – bring it on but life will never be the same.
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
