Thank you, Madam Chair
I am not aware of what ideology Ms. Findlay is referring to. I would like her to put a name to my ideology, other than its respect for human dignity. I don't think it has anything to do with ideology, but rather the principles that underpin our lawful society. When one is in favour of respect for human dignity, it is essential for it to go beyond the merely theoretical. That is why the law enshrines the principle of human self-determination in its biomedical decisions. No one can cause harm to someone without their free—with an emphasis on the word “free”—and informed consent.
Once a person has come to a decision, why would you have to give them more time, you ask? If they have changed their mind, that's their decision. We should also avoid the other side of the coin, by which I mean people who don't want medical assistance in dying to be administered at all in their hospital or institution. There are not a lot of MAID practitioners.
Let's consider a terminally ill patient who has battled cancer for 20 years and has been in palliative care for a year. There is no cure. One day, the patient ends up in emergency because the body can no longer function. If for 20 years it had been clear in that patient's mind that this was what they wanted and preferred, perhaps there might be a change of heart once they find themselves in an optimal palliative care context. Nothing in Bill C-7 or Bill C-14 prevents anyone from changing their mind. But the courts told us otherwise when they ruled that Bill C-14 and the Criminal Code infringed the right to life of the person.
Things need to be put back into perspective. I have a lot of respect for religious authorities, but when I am quoted comments made by a cardinal in a clause-by-clause debate, and told these should be included in the minutes, I get the impression that we are swinging back to the other extreme.
Respect for human dignity implies that we treat other humans as an end, and never as a means of imposing an ideology on them, whether religious or otherwise, or an authority other than their own. No authority other than that of the person dying, or the person suffering from an incurable illness causing intolerable pain, should determine on their behalf what level of pain is tolerable to them.
That is what we are talking about today. Everything possible to alleviate pain during the transition to death; that is what we are pursuing. The fact that some people assume, in support of some ideology, that a person in the throes of death needs more time, leads me to believe that perhaps they would like that person to die before the medical assistance in dying begins.
I do not wish to continue to impugn their motives, but would like my Conservative colleagues to respond in kind. The only principle guiding our deliberations today is respect for human dignity, which requires total respect for people's right to self-determination. Throughout our lives, the law protects our self-determination. Why should the state withdraw this principle at the most private moment of a human being's life? That is the substantive issue here.
We are trying to make it easier for people not to suffer and to have their wishes respected. Some witnesses, practicians and doctors who proffer palliative care came to tell us that they knew better than the patients what was good for them. They tried to make patients change their mind because they felt that the patients were not assessing their own condition properly and that they should be allowed to die only at the end of their anguish.
That is not the kind of medical practice I want to promote. I can tell you that if a patient decides to die only at the end of the road, I will be there to help because that was their decision. The bill does not prevent anyone from dying a natural death.