Uncommon Sense

The right-to-die debate is a tricky one.
   
It’s in the news right now because the B.C. Civil Liberties Association is challenging laws that criminalize doctors who help seriously ill people die with dignity — or ‘commit suicide.’ The exact terminology depends on which side you sit on.
   
Suicide, in the religious world, is generally considered a sin. Theology aside, suicide hasn’t been illegal in Canada since 1972, according to Reasontolive.ca. That was when attempted suicide vanished from the Criminal Code.
   
With the caveat that suicide is a tragic affair, the old joke about the silliness of being charged with attempted suicide is an easy chestnut.
   
But if attempted suicide isn’t illegal, and suicide isn’t illegal and is ultimately unpunishable anyway, why is assisted suicide illegal?
   
One of the arguments is that doctors can actually recommend death instead of treatment, which might create ethical issues when insurance, finance and inheritances are involved.
   
Elder abuse is another concern. Ailing seniors may be coerced into committing suicide for whatever reason by brutish relatives or others.
   
But those concerns seem rather negligible if a person is in an unbearable amount of pain and the medical prospect of recovery is zero. If that person doesn’t want to live, then I don’t see what right we have to stop him or her.
   
If I don’t want cable, I can cancel my subscription and have the cable dude take the wiring out of my house. If I want to change all the plumbing in my house, I can pay a plumber to run the pipe. If I want to try to cheat death by climbing Everest, I can pay a sherpa to show me the way up. If I want to skydive, I can pay an instructor to kick me out of the plane when I get stage fright and seize up.
   
But if I want my life to end, I’m forbidden from getting a medical expert to help me out.
   
That seems less than ideal to me.
   
If people have really had enough — and I’m talking about people with grave illnesses, not depressed teenagers — I think they should be able to talk to their doctors about whether living is right for them.
   
Will there be abuses of the system if right-to-die legislation is enacted? Yes. But there are abuses of the system going on right now. I guarantee some doctors have assisted someone who wanted to end his or her life, and I guarantee other non-medical personnel have done the same thing.
   
What about do-not-resuscitate orders? Aren’t those just suicide notes written in legal terms? If I could save you but don’t, am I not aiding you in dying?
   
I don’t know if assisted suicide is morally right or wrong, but I do believe people should be allowed to make decisions for themselves, and I do believe they should be able to get expert assistance if they choose to pack it in.
   
Doctors and midwives bring most of us into the world, and perhaps an equivalent should exist at the end of the line if a situation warrants it.
   
Mike Warkentin supports Gloria Taylor in Vancouver.