Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion to have a committee prepare a bill that would deal with physician assisted suicide. We should not force a prolonged painful dreadful death on a rational but incapacitated terminally ill human being.
People are already being assisted with their suicides, with their choice to die with dignity, but it is happening without open discussion and without any safeguards. We need to clarify the practice of any treatment that lessens suffering and may shorten life and withholding or withdrawal of treatment that would prolong life. When are these actions legally acceptable? More important, when are they ethically and morally acceptable.
My mother at 59 suffered a heart attack and became mentally incapacitated, but physically she was very strong. I remember asking the doctor why she was not getting the treatments that would help her. His reply was that she was old and was now mentally handicapped. I argued and pushed for her to have the treatments. She remained very strong physically but her life was certainly limited. My life was devoted to her care.
As time went on, another doctor asked if we should revive her if she had another heart attack. I was appalled. I never believed that I would be asked that question. I did not believe it was for me to answer that question. It was her life. I had never talked to my mother about death and I had never prepared myself to answer a question like that. I never knew what her beliefs were except that she was Catholic and it was not something she wanted.
More than anything, she loved being alive. Her way of life was different. It was limited but it was full of joy. She wanted to be with her grandchildren and she wanted to be with me. That was all that mattered and she loved it. I resented having that question asked because I felt it was wrong. It was an ethical question and if my mother had not made that choice, I was not there to make it for her.
We need to know when the interest of the individual overrides our concern for the whole of society and the implications that physician assisted suicide poses for all of us. These changes, should we make them, would not pre-empt palliative care, pain control or symptom relief. We need safeguards for the sanctity of life and we need to consider those safeguards.
Those who do not want to suffer must give informed voluntary consent that is enduring and free of coercion and they must be able to revoke that consent at any moment. They must be sound in mind, competent and unimpaired when making their decisions and their decisions must be based on complete medical knowledge of their illness. A physician cannot be compelled in any way to participate in the process and no one should ever gain in any way from a physician assisted suicide. The decision must be made by the individual, not by the family, friends, clergy, sons or daughters.
We must let a committee hear all the moral, medical, legal, ethical, religious and societal arguments and attempt to balance those with the pleas of those suffering from a terminal illness.
When I travelled throughout the Yukon in January I spoke to high school students. They were intrigued and fascinated by this question. It was immediately something important to them. A young First Nations boy knew he would do what his elders wanted, that he would not oppose them. He felt he would be wrong in opposing their wishes or the wishes of anyone who asked him for help in that way. He wanted to know more and to talk more.
I telephoned my bishop to hear what he had to say and his concerns. Where should we be going? What historical perspective do we need on this issue? Most of all we cannot leave a person to go into a vehicle, turn on the ignition and die alone and deserted without any ceremony. We cannot allow people to end their lives with indignity.
I believe it is critical to take this time to put all these questions before our countrymen and women and to come to a decision that will assist us all. Then we will not be caught out. We will be able to discuss death and we will not be afraid of it. When it comes to suicide we will be able to discuss the shame we all feel, the sense of loss or the feeling that we have somehow failed someone who no longer wants to be among us.
I support this motion.