"What I have witnessed will change any Canadian's opinion in a hurry"

Published in the National Post: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/01/04/todays-letters-e-cigarettes-will-still-prove-deadly-to-smokers/

The poll conducted by Forum Research further exploited voters’ own fear of their personal uncertain future. If the poll question was: “If evidence found that close to 50% of the legalized deaths are without consent, would you still legalize euthanasia/assisted-suicide?,” I guarantee that the poll would show drastically different results.

I have had to live in a long-term care facility since 2000. What I have witnessed here will change any Canadian’s opinion in a hurry.

Robert Greig, Montreal.

"I do not trust the government to make decisions for me"

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Protect+health+care+system/5922060/story.html

Protect health-care system

By Louis Cass, Edmonton Journal December 29, 2011 

I heard about something that happened in Ontario. From what I understand an elderly woman in her 90s who was already in the hospital had a person with the respiratory flu placed in the same room as her, supposedly because there were insufficient beds.

She then came down with the flu and after a short period of time she died.
Could this be considered euthanasia with-out consent? Is this what we have to look forward to in the future as we age?

This makes me wonder whether we need rules that will give each of us the ability to decide what is best in our specific situation. I do not trust the government to make decisions for me.

It appears the federal government wants to distance itself from the issues. Private medical care is obviously on the way. We can then be a twin of the United States and have half our population without adequate medical care.

Am I scared? Yes and you should be, too.

Louis Cass, Edmonton

Hassan Rasouli & The Right to Consent

Dear Editor:

The article about Hassan Rasouli hit close to home. [“Doctors fight to remove man from life support”].  Thirteen years ago, I too was on a ventilator and a feeding tube.  This was after I was paralyzed by a disease and all four of my doctors felt that I should be removed from life support.  Fortunately, my wife requested that one of the doctors ask me first.  Although the only thing I could move was my eyelids, I somehow communicated that I was not giving consent.

 The doctor who spoke with me told me that there was no chance of recovery, “not even one chance in a million.”  He said that if I lived, I would always be respirator dependent and a quadriplegic.  Instead, I eventually lost my paralysis and even went back to work.  My doctors, excellent doctors with years of experience, were wrong.

According to the article, there is a dispute over whether Mr. Rasouli can communicate.  Is he gesturing a “thumbs up” or are his gestures “the automatic reflexes of an irreversibly unconscious man?”  When I was first paralyzed, other people attempted to communicate with me by pointing to an alphabet board.  Like Mr. Rasouli, my eyes were unfocused.  For this reason, I could not see the board and therefore could not make a meaningful response.  Perhaps Mr. Rasouli could be asked to move one finger for “yes” and do nothing for “no?”  Maybe there is another way he can communicate?

The article also describes how doctors in Canada want the right to withdraw treatment without first getting patient consent.  If my doctor had not asked for my consent, I would likely be dead.  I hope that your Supreme Court upholds your right of consent. 

Jerry L. Jacobson
Glasgow, MT USA