(December 6, 2021 at 11:49 pm)Paleophyte Wrote: We've had medically assisted dying in Canada for several years now and no regrets. They've recently expanded eligibility so that you no longer need a terminal disease to qualify, merely a "grievous and irremediable medical condition". You also need to be capable of consent. Medical professionals are not compelled to assist in your death if they have moral/religious objections, however they are required to refer you to a practitioner who has no such qualms. This has not proven to be a difficulty. All in all it has been carried off with surprisingly little fanfare or protest.
What was shocking was the speed with which the change happened. The Supreme Court threw out the existing laws, ruling that they violated basic Charter freedoms, and left the federal government 6 months to get a functional law in place. Faced with the prospect of no legal framework whatsoever, the federal government moved with surprising speed and put through a pretty decent assisted dying law.
After a series of severe health issues and one near fatal car accident...there was no coming back from all that for my dad. The wreck stopped the cancer treatments and the series of strokes just jacked with everything. It's a shame that even with a directive in place the doctor still needed to hear it from me (or one of us kids) to agree to palliative care only. There was certainly no option for the medical staff to 'help' as evidenced by the nurse who left his room and slumped against the wall sobbing because she couldn't ease his pain without killing him and that wasn't an option open to her.
When we (kids) were all there the last time prior to his death, along with other meds lined up neatly in a row on his kitchen counter was a near full bottle of Oxycontin (50, I think) and also some hydrocodone. When we all left to head home those meds were all there. Six days later we were on our way back because he had died. Husband and I were first ones to arrive. The bottle of Oxy was missing. First thought was drug seeker but they would have taken other things in the house as well as the Hydrocodone so we were pretty confused. At dinner one night with his lady friend we mentioned how odd it was that the Oxy was gone from his house...she handed us the bottle with four tablets left in it. She said he had asked for them.
So, I am sure you can all do the math. Dad found out his brother-in-law was coming to see him and he didn't want his lady friend to be alone. The last night my uncle was there was my dad's last. Pretty sure dad didn't want her to be alone since we were scattered across the country.
They were his meds. Prescribed to him but he was physically unable to get to them and they would have had to have been crushed up since he could barely swallow. It's a damn shame she was put in the position of having to break the law to give him the relief he was pleading for. Had he asked me, I'd have done the same.
Why we make so many people in this country suffer needlessly when the only end to that suffering is death by their own hand or with the help of another is inhumane. We generally treat animals with more compassion.
I'm your huckleberry.
