I'm sorry. I think there was crosstalk there, but if you're asking me to go ahead, I will. Thank you.
Before I ask my questions I'm wondering whether, Mr. Pageau, you would provide any evidence from the Netherlands about cases of people who have been forced against their will to, I think you said, sign documents. People aren't generally asked to sign documents. They actually have the right to choose it or request it. If you have specific examples and it constitutes evidence, I'd like to hear it.
My question is for Dr. Green.
As we heard from our witnesses earlier, of course no one can predict the future, but we do this all the time in health care. We opt to have surgery when we may not know the outcome. We opt for “do not resuscitate” orders in the case of future accidents or conditions that may arise; we don't know what the details are, but we ask for that.
In the case of cognitive decline, we know the outcomes are inevitable. There is a resulting physical decline. We know that's inevitable. What's harder to deal with than this fear of decline is the fear of being denied the right to have any choice or any control over your health outcomes, which we respect in these other cases. Are you concerned that it in fact can hasten the decline of cognitive status and physical status in some cases? Also—and there are cases of this that I'm aware of—some people then choose to end their lives earlier, because they fear the inability to make a choice or to be allowed a choice later on.