CANADA: What If We Could Choose Our Time To Die?

MONTREAL, Quebec (The Montreal Gazette), January 7, 2008: Last week's column on growing old, published on New Year's Eve (It's a good time to grow old, but it's not always easy,The Montreal Gazette, December 31, 2007), provoked a series of responses from readers - some emotional, some logical and rational and some condemning me for writing such a "depressing column." Among the critics was a self-described "aged" reader who says she is "very mad" at me and vows not to read my column anymore. Strikingly, several readers argued strongly for giving seniors the right and the ability to choose the time of their death. "I truly believe that euthanasia on demand should be the way of the future for elderly patients," one writes. "I know several elderly, sickly people who can't wait to die, but because of our outdated beliefs must hang on until their frail bodies breathe their last breath." She notes that "the baby boomers have always got their way (and) perhaps they will be the ones to see that this happens." Another reader says that she envies people in several European countries who can "contact their doctor and say this is my time to die." She notes that we put suffering animals "to sleep at the end" and that it costs "an unbelievable amount of money to prolong somebody's dying." Here, people can sign a legal document, called a mandate, stating that no extraordinary medical interventions should be used to prolong life artificially. The hospital's term for such patients is "no code," referring to the various emergency codes used to summon help in various medical crises. Euthanasia, whatever the motive, remains a crime in Canada. That's even if a suffering patient has asked for the favour. A private member's bill introduced in Parliament by Bloc Québécois MP Francine Lalonde in 2005 died on the Order Paper when an election was called. The bill would have legalized the deliberate killing of a patient by another person, if certain criteria were met. Critics charged that this would lead eventually to a situation like that in the Netherlands, where legal euthanasia began with good intentions about 25 years ago and where thousands of elderly patients and newborn babies are reported to be euthanized each year - a significant number without evidence that they consented in any way. Consequently, some seniors are reported to carry cards saying they do not want to be killed before their time to die arrives. It seems that no regulation can control euthanasia, once the legal ban has been lifted. And even people who have expressed a wish to die while in pain or severely depressed have been known to change their minds when treatment alleviates their suffering. The chilling 1973 movie Soylent Green dramatized an overcrowded world in 2022 where assisted suicide at a certain age is enforced by law and corpses are turned into desperately needed food. Mind you, the people required to die do get a fine send-off: They can enjoy music they love as they watch video presentations of natural scenes no longer available in reality. Ironically, Edward G. Robinson, playing in his last role the character of victim Sol Roth, himself died of cancer nine days after shooting of the movie ended. Words of comfort Last week's column also asked how we seniors are to cope with the inevitable departure from our lives of those who were once part of it, especially former longtime couples. A reader suggested some comfort for those of us in that circumstance, in the words of the late Viktor Frankl. A Jewish Viennese psychiatrist who survived the German concentration camps he was sent to, Frankl resumed his practice after the Second World War ended. An elderly doctor whose wife had died came to Frankl suffering from very severe depression and saying that he saw no point in continuing to live as a widower. The couple had no children. According to Frankl's story, he reminded the suffering survivor that most couples do not die simultaneously. "What if you had gone first? Would she not be suffering as you are? Think how fortunate it is that you spared her that, and that it is you who has to bear it and not her." It's not much, but it's a thought. By Hugh Anderson © The Gazette (Montreal) 2008