Children’s Hospital in Canada Drafts Pro-Euthanasia Policy

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , ,

Canada’s largest children’s hospital is drafting a policy regarding euthanasia that some say could eventually let children decide for themselves whether to be euthanized, according to various sources.

Currently, Canada allows physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia for adult patients. A working group from the hospital published an article in the Oxford-based Journal of Medical Ethics detailing how children in Canada could be euthanized if the country’s laws are amended to allow euthanasia of minors.

The proposed policy argues there is no ethical difference between a terminally ill patient declining medical treatment and a terminally ill patient choosing to die by lethal injection.

Needless to say, the fact that a leading children’s hospital is weighing whether or not doctors should be allowed to kill children is causing controversy.

Wesley J. Smith writes,

One would think that — at a bare minimum — such homicides should require parental permission. But no. If the child is considered mature enough to make decisions, parents can be kept out of  the death discussions. Indeed, the authors envision scenarios in which parents aren’t even notified by doctors that they are going to kill their child! . . .

Can you imagine visiting your sick child, only to learn that hospital doctors killed her because she asked to die and wanted you kept in the dark? The rage and agony would be unimaginable.

Sadly, euthanizing children is not a new phenomenon.

Last August we told you Belgian doctors have euthanized at least three minors suffering from brain tumors, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis.

Like Belgium, Canada has seemed obsessed with euthanasia since its legalization in 2016 — even going so far as to consider paying doctors a premium to prescribe lethal drugs.

Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer infamously argued a few years ago in favor of “post birth” abortion — killing children after birth in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, Canada and other countries seem to be turning those sorts of radical ideas into a reality.

And the United States is not immune. Bills legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia have been filed in about half of all state legislatures in the past five years, and physician-assisted suicide now claims one life per day in California on average.

I’ll keep saying it: Being pro-life means believing human life is sacred from conception until natural death, and it means opposing the taking of human life without just cause. Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted-suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

Photo By Colin (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cckaiser/3619297168/) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

READ MORE

CA Further Relaxes Laws on Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , , ,

Last week we wrote that physician-assisted suicide is claiming nearly one life per day in California alone, on average.

This week our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview have released a brief commentary regarding other outrageous changes California has made to its assisted suicide laws.

Lawmakers in California recently passed a bill making it easier for children to encourage their parents to seek out physician-assisted suicide “services.”

John Stonestreet writes,

It is now legal for children, or anyone else for that matter, to encourage vulnerable parents to avail themselves of doctor-assisted suicide.

Of course, people considering doctor-assisted suicide are just as vulnerable as anyone else considering taking their own lives. They are just as susceptible to pressure and manipulation, especially if those who are urging them to die “love them.”

I’ll say it again: Human life is sacred, and no sickness gives us an excuse to end someone’s life prematurely — including our own. Simply put: Physician-assisted suicide violates human dignity and the sanctity of human life.

You can read or listen to Stonestreet’s entire commentary here.

READ MORE

Physician-Assisted Suicide Claiming Nearly One Life Per Day in California

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide,

Last week we wrote about public opinion polling on assisted suicide and euthanasia. In short, while Americans generally say they think physician-assisted suicide ought to be legal, weekly churchgoers strongly oppose assisted suicide, and support for suicide and euthanasia rises or falls depending on how pollsters describe the issue.

This week we want to highlight a report from California showing hundreds of people have ended their lives under the state’s physician-assisted suicide program since 2016.

Over the summer the California Department of Public Health published a set of findings that noted 374 people died by ingesting a lethal prescription from a doctor in 2017.

Adding to that the 111 people who died by assisted suicide in the last part of 2016, physician-assisted suicide claimed 485 lives in its first 18 months of operation in California. That comes out to nearly one death every day for a year and a half!

California’s 2017 report once again shows most people who opt for physician-assisted suicide are well-educated. This corroborates surveys conducted in Oregon and Canada as well as information published in California last year showing most people who inquire about assisted suicide are actually educated, affluent individuals who are much more concerned about losing their autonomy than they are about pain and suffering. Instead of being referred to a mental health specialist or offered other assistance, most of these patients simply receive a lethal prescription for drugs they can use to commit suicide.

Being pro-life means believing human life is sacred from conception until natural death, and it means opposing the taking of human life without just cause.

While the term “pro-life” is often applied to work related to abortion, opposition to suicide and euthanasia falls under the purview of pro-life work as well.

Just like abortion, assisted-suicide fails to acknowledge that God is the creator and giver of life. Human life is sacred, and no sickness gives us an excuse to end someone’s life prematurely — including our own.

Simply put: Physician-assisted suicide violates human dignity and the sanctity of human life.

READ MORE