Why assisted suicide will put Canada’s most vulnerable at risk

Compassion motivates many towards supporting euthanasia, but history has shown it puts society's most vulnerable people at risk.

This week our Supreme Court heard an important case on assisted suicide and its potential legalization. Canadians then are faced with an important question: “Why?”

Why should we allow assisted suicide?

It is often considered compassionate to assist in the death of suffering people. Compassion is noble, even virtuous. But, I believe that elimination of suffering should never transform into the elimination of the sufferer.

Sometimes, we are most weak right at the point of our highest virtues. This is why I also believe that besides asking “why,” we must also ask “why not?”

Science fiction no more

I am concerned, firstly, about where legalizing assisted suicide will lead. Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) describes the enticing power of suicide parlours. As a teenager first reading this story, it seemed like far-off science fiction. But, the themes of the book are not so far-fetched now.

What is interesting to me is that I don’t need the dramatic warnings of science fiction or my own imagination to ponder a future that includes assisted suicide. All I need to do is look to those parts of Europe where, for over a decade, assisted suicide has been perfectly legal.

The UK’s Daily Mail newspaper reported last month on a Belgian couple with no terminal illnesses who chose euthanasia when they didn’t want to be separated. The Sidney Morning Herald reported in 2007 that, in Switzerland, insiders have reported the mentally ill can receive euthanasia for no reason other than clinical depression.

Once again in Belgium, euthanasia has been opened up to children by an act of parliament.

While many Canadians indicate openness to assisted suicide, would minds change if we saw what is happening in other countries often held up as examples?

Many criticize this as a slippery slope argument, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously. While safe-guards are proposed, we still need to ask ourselves: “Is there something inherent in Canadian society which will prevent the door opening to such extremes?” I don’t believe so.

We are no better than our European neighbours, no more virtuous, no less flawed. All the more reason why we need to keep the door closed to possibilities of abuse. We Canadians should be very skeptical about the claimed efficacy of safeguards.

A second reason for the “why not” is concern for the most vulnerable — the elderly, those with disabilities, and those with a mental illness.

Most vulnerable

I find it interesting and concerning that oftentimes all this talk about compassionate rights-giving actually makes the most vulnerable feel like they could be placed in danger.

The cases that evoke the most compassion in Canadians and stir up support, are inevitably ones that feature a sufferer in full command of their faculties — someone like Sue Rodriguez, for example.

But those with disabilities have real concerns that need to be heard. What happens when an elderly person, already perhaps feeling like a burden, has assisted suicide presented to them?  When do options turn into nudges toward a certain choice? What happens when an overburdened health care system can entertain the possibility of euthanasia for those with severe disabilities?

There are a few disabled people in my own life who fear having a choice being made for them at a point of diminished capacity.

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities reports that the leading reason for choosing euthanasia is not avoidance of suffering and pain but instead “losing dignity and autonomy” and “becoming burdensome for family and friends.”

Wouldn’t it be better to find ways to help persons receive support and thus prevent people in need from feeling like a burden? Wouldn’t improved support be better than assisted suicide?

Invest in palliative care

Dignity is not something that is afforded to persons based on their capabilities. It is not ours to give, it is ours to recognize.

Because of this, we should be cautious about following in the footsteps of governments that do not protect children, the elderly, and those with physical and mental disabilities adequately, such as Belgium and Switzerland.

When the most vulnerable are concerned about the consequences of euthanasia or assisted suicide, we need to be concerned along with them. We should hear their voices and seek to cultivate a compassionate, but ultimately protective society.

A third reason why we should keep the door to euthanasia or assisted suicide closed is that other ways to alleviate suffering have not been exhausted. Compassion must drive us to invest greatly in palliative care.

This can remove much of the supposed need for a desire to end one’s life prematurely. Sadly, palliative care remains unavailable to many Canadians.

Sue Rodriguez famously said: “whose body is this? Who owns my life?” The answer is that she does, of course, but such autonomy must be held in check by the fact that we live in a shared Canada.

Don't open the door

Euthanasia/assisted suicide involves us all, especially if it is incorporated into the medical system. I, for one, do not want to be implicated in the assisted death of another, even if provided in the name of supposed compassion.  

I don’t want Canada to open the door to assisted suicide. Our sympathetic instincts should be commended, but redirected towards a more deeply reasoned compassion.

A compassion that is merely reactive can be misguided and can unwittingly open up a Pandora’s Box of unintended consequences. It is out of compassion that we should explore every other avenue of relief for those suffering.

It is out of compassion that we should not ignore the concerns of the vulnerable and recognize their dignity. It is out of compassion that we must be wary of where all of this could lead.

It is out of compassion that we need to find other ways of eliminating suffering while refusing to eliminate the sufferer.

Steve Swan is a pastor of The King’s Fellowship in downtown Winnipeg. He is the father of two and a life long Winnipegger.