Some of Ontario’s doctors are looking for work outside of Ontario, even in the U.S., now that they’re being told by their governing body that they have to refer terminally ill patients to a doctor who will help them end their lives. I hope every one of them leave fast.
Assisted suicide will soon be legal in Canada. The intent is already there, but the wording is still being worked out. These doctors who oppose the concept, for reasons of religion and of ego, would rather impose their particular faith on a suffering patient than help them relieve that suffering. So who’s playing God? This isn’t even about doing the deed. It’s about refusing to refer a patient to another doctor who has a different belief system, you know, one that follows the law and the will of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons.
You won’t be able to walk in to your physician’s office and ask for a drug cocktail because you’re having a bad day. There are checks and balances. These doctors who oppose assisted death claim that, aside from religion, sending a patient to another doctor who is willing help them is akin to “abandoning” that patient. Apparently, the original physicians want to be there to witness the suffering and the struggle, while their medications – in many cases – fail to ease the pain of the final journey.
Spare me the righteous indignation over the sanctity of life. If you’ve witnessed it, as I have, there’s nothing noble about a body ravaged by cancer. It can be agony. And forcing someone to endure that in this life so they’ll maybe get a hall-pass in the next, makes not a whit of sense to me.
Ontario doctors, feel free to go and make room for those who will follow the law of the land and the will of its people. It’s sad and it’s awful but it’s a job you signed on for when you went to medical school. You also have the right to practise your profession as a spreader of fairy dust and purveyor of cotton-candy dreams if you like, so I hope those kinds of medical positions are available for you elsewhere.