To be honest, I probably think about death too much.
My continuously growing list of unreasonable fears — including sharks, sink holes, stray bullets, black holes, and death by accidentally tripping and hitting the pavement with my teeth in a way that they go up into my brain — all share the noticeable theme of being death-orientated. I’ll also be the first to admit that just talking about death terrifies me. Few things in life are as guaranteed as the fact that we’ll all one day be dead, and that fact is simultaneously unsettling and reassuring in equal measure.
So why am I deciding to share all of this personal and otherwise useless information with you? Because I want you to know how uncomfortable the subject makes me, so that hopefully you’ll recognize just how strongly I feel about assisted dying.
There are a multitude of terms for it — assisted dying, assisted suicide, euthanasia — but they all result in the same thing. According to National Health Services, euthanasia is “the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering,” whereas assisted suicide is “the act of deliberately assisting or encouraging another person to kill themselves.” Both become options for consideration when a terminal patient is seeking a way to accelerate their death.
The decision should fall in the hands of those who it affects most: the patients themselves.
Why would someone want to end their life any sooner than they have to? There are many reasons, actually, but some of the most common are if a patient knows they’ll be in considerable pain and is against prolonging the process; the sheer cost of maintaining proper medication and treatment to delay the inevitable; or — one of the biggest points of contention for assisted dying supporters — wanting to reclaim control of their life and end it on their own terms.
Seems pretty reasonable, right? So what’s standing in the way?
Quite bluntly, the practice of assisted dying is illegal in Canada, and anyone who commits the offence could face up to 14 years in jail. The issue is currently in front of the Supreme Court of Canada, where the BC Civil Liberties Association is arguing in favour of “doctor-assisted dying only, and not assisted suicide at the hands of just anyone.”
By lessening restrictions on the practice and awarding it more legality, the BC Civil Liberties Association hopes that fewer illegal assisted suicides will take place and that there will be a reduced chance of said suicide attempts being botched or leaving the patient in even worse shape. Quebec is the only province in Canada to successfully pass right-to-die legislation back in June of this year, meaning that terminally ill patients over the age of 18 who are in constant pain and stand no chance of improving can submit a request for a doctor-assisted death.
So what does the rest of the country think about assisted dying? A 2014 poll conducted by national charity Dying with Dignity (DWD) found that 84 per cent of surveyed Canadians agreed that “a doctor should be able to help someone end their life if the person is a competent adult who is terminally ill, suffering unbearably, and repeatedly asks for assistance to die.”
Even more surprising is that 80 per cent of Christians and 83 per cent of Catholics polled showed support for assisted dying. The poll’s scope is admittedly limited in that only 2,500 Canadians were sampled, but DWD still calls it “the most comprehensive Canadian survey ever undertaken on the public’s perception of dying with dignity.”
In British Columbia specifically, a full 87 per cent of people surveyed were found to be in support of assisted dying.
Aside from the legality of assisted dying, a large chunk of opposition comes from various religious groups who entirely oppose the taking of another person’s life. The Death with Dignity National Center dedicates a large part of its website to listing which religious groups are against assisted dying, as well as specific reasons as to why it conflicts with their beliefs. Among these is the view that the “killing of a human being, even by an act of omission to eliminate suffering, violates divine law, and offends the dignity of the human person.”
However, some religions acknowledge that a person’s suffering and the need for compassion in terminal cases is important. The Mormon Church, for example, acknowledges that “when dying becomes inevitable, death should be looked upon as a blessing and a purposeful part of an external existence. Members should not feel obligated to extend mortal life by means that are unreasonable.” Again, we encounter the issue of set rules and beliefs coming into conflict with what might seem to be the morally right thing to do.
No one wants to hear they have a limited amount of time left to live — but when you factor in the hopelessness that comes with knowing your illness is terminal and that your quality of life will only worsen going forward, it’s no wonder people are rallying behind the right to assisted death.
As someone who’s not in a situation where I have to choose whether or not I want to pursue assisted dying, it seems condescending to comment on if it should be allowed or not. From the outside, it’s easy for me to weigh in on the topic and say what I personally feel is right or wrong. In reality, the decision should fall in the hands of those who it affects most: the patients themselves.
No one has a say in whether or not they will die one day, but assisted dying helps people reclaim some control over their lives. Dying is inevitable; having no say in how you die doesn’t have to be.
