Dr. Sandy Buchman was president of the Canadian Medical Association when it changed its code of ethics to accommodate legalized euthanasia. He is a MAiD assessor and MAiD provider, founder of a proposed MAiD-providing hospice in North York and medical director of the Freemen Centre for the Advancement of Palliative Care at North York General Hospital.
Even as a passionate advocate for MAiD, Buchman believes a society that gives people the option of medically terminating their lives must also give them all the medical and social support they need to continue living.
鈥淲hat kind of society are we?鈥� he asked. 鈥淎re we a caring, compassionate society? Are we going to condemn people to live with these disadvantages 鈥� in poverty, lack of adequate housing? Are we not going to attempt to deal better with their mental health and addictions? Their access to physical therapy, occupational therapy, the resources that everyone needs in a consistent way?鈥�
The campaign 鈥� No Options, No Choice 鈥� argues that provincial governments need to spend more on palliative care, mental health treatments, social and housing supports to ensure Canadians don鈥檛 choose doctor-assisted suicide out of despair and frustration.
鈥淪upport additional services for Canadians so that they have real options to live,鈥� says the campaign鱿鱼视频app website (nooptionsnochoice.ca).
鈥淚鈥檓 in full agreement with a lot of that,鈥� said Buchman
Buchman argues that health care and social service budgets must prioritize the most vulnerable.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about people who need these sorts of supports to maintain normal, basic life,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople are living hugely below the poverty line in this time of rampant inflation, food prices. It鱿鱼视频app just unjust鈥� What drives death, really? What drives deaths is these inadequate social circumstances and social support services that people are living with. If you or I were in those, we would ask for MAiD.鈥�
The No Options, No Choice campaign won鈥檛 overturn the law that makes voluntary euthanasia legal in Canada, said Deacon Larry Worthen, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association. But it at least proposes alternatives.
鈥淎m I saying this is going to eliminate MAiD altogether? Probably not,鈥� said Worthen. 鈥淏ut how many lives will be saved in the interim?鈥�
The Archdiocese of Toronto, along with every other diocese in Ontario, has thrown its support behind the No Options, No Choice campaign.
鈥淲e鈥檝e long argued for expanded funding for palliative care,鈥� said archdiocesan spokesperson Neil MacCarthy. 鈥淕overnments at all levels need to look at how we can make housing affordable for those living with disabilities, along with other support systems to ensure they are not living in poverty or isolation. We need to look at all solutions as to how we can support the vulnerable and ensure they are not forgotten.鈥�
The campaign has been timed to coincide with when provincial governments are drawing up their budgets, Worthen said. One priority would be bringing provincial disability pensions up over the poverty line, he said. Queen鱿鱼视频app Park increased Ontario Disability Support Program payments five per cent this year, but in a year of eight-per-cent inflation an ODSP cheque still buys less than it did a year ago.
Vancouver palliative care physician Margaret Cottle, a member of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has thrown her support behind the No Options, No Choice campaign. Cottle worries about the moral shape of a society that makes a lethal injection easy but housing, palliative care, effective psychiatric care and home care incredibly difficult.
鈥淲hat does this say about us as a culture if we do this?鈥� she asked. 鈥淚n British Columbia it takes less paperwork and less assessment to get MAiD than it does to receive government-supported home oxygen.鈥�
While Cottle disagrees with Buchman fundamentally about the definition of palliative care and the compatibility of MAiD with the Hippocratic Oath, she has the same concerns about patients choosing MAiD because society can鈥檛 or won鈥檛 provide the necessities of life.
鈥淭he whole thing is just, it鱿鱼视频app heartbreaking is what I can say,鈥� said Cottle. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a patient who said that he was going to pursue MAiD because he couldn鈥檛 get decent home care鈥� The government made MAiD part of the rights under the Canada Health Act and palliative care is not. How crazy is that?鈥�
Health Canada doesn鈥檛 see a problem with the availability of palliative care.
鈥淭he available evidence suggests that the choice to seek MAiD is not driven by inadequate palliative care services, nor lack of availability of these services,鈥� Health Canada spokesperson Natalie Mohamed said in an email. 鈥淭he Third Annual Report on MAiD in Canada indicates that, in 2021, the majority of MAiD recipients (80.7 per cent) received palliative care.鈥�
The bureaucratic form-filling behind such statistics doesn鈥檛 convince Worthen.
鈥淥ur role as Church is to come alongside people like that 鈥� whether they are in our parishes or they may not even be regular church-goers,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are individuals in our society who are suffering from loneliness, isolation and in some cases discrimination and prejudice. Our role as Christians should be to come alongside them and to support them and to help them realize that God loves them and that they have dignity outside of what our society says about them.鈥�
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said its Office for Family and Life has received information about the No Options, No Choice campaign. Before the CCCB opts into the campaign, the Office for Family and Life must present the case to the Standing Committee for Family and Life and the Executive Committee of the CCCB for approval.
鈥淭he CCCB is very supportive of any and all initiatives that promote and advance the culture of life, including palliative care, which we understand is the focus of this particular initiative,鈥� the CCCB Communications Service said in an email.