Re: Editor’s Note, Dec. 8-14
Grant McKenzie's article, "The right to choose death", promotes legal assisted suicide and euthanasia as a personal choice. He is apparently unaware of the abuse of patient choice already going on in Canadian healthcare facilities. In Nova Scotia, a mild stroke led to (my mother's) forced starvation and dehydration. It didn't matter that she was conscious and trying to speak, or that she had indicated that she wanted water. In other words, she didn't get her choice. As evidenced by my mother's experience, some doctors cannot be trusted with the power they already have. Legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia will give them even more power to affect patient death. The idea that legalizing these practices will somehow increase patient choice and autonomy is at best naive.
Kate Kelly, B.A., B.Ed.,Coral Harbour, Nunavut