Assisted suicide debate continues
Posted Oct 5, 2014 05:48:38 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The debate over assisted suicide returned to the spotlight on Parliament Hill earlier this week as M-P’s heard an impassioned plea against allowing people to help others kill themselves.
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition tells 570 News that if assisted suicide is legalized, there will still be serious issues for potential patients.
“The issue with assisted suicide is that somebody else is involved in causing your death…in fact you’ve defined my life as being worthy of ending.”
Meantime, one local resident travelled to Switzerland after a friend asked him to accompany him to end his life.
Doug Thomas believes his friend made the right choice.
“He could never get out of his wheelchair again; he was unable to go to the washroom on his own so he was constantly in a diaper…so dignity was a big problem for him.”
Thomas stresses that assisted suicide is not euthanasia, the patient actively takes the steps themselves to end their life and a doctor is only there to help them do it in a “safe” way.
Meantime, Grand River Unitarian Congregation is holding a free event this afternoon for all to hear Doug’s story. The talk, “Dying with Dignity” will start at 1:30 and wrap up around 3:30 pm.
