By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director – Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
CPSA Registrar Dr. Trevor Theman
Last Friday, The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA ) approved an advisory document for doctors who participate in assisted death. The new document is based on a consultation document created in September and circulated for feedback.
According to Global News, the advisory document approves assisted death for minors and it forces doctors to refer their patients to death.
“The old document restricted consent to competent adult patients, but that has been amended to include mature minors,” according to Erika Tucker and Heather Yourex-West.
CPSA Registrar Dr. Trevor Theman said there’s no strict age limit on the requirement for consent, suggesting medical procedures aren’t typically based on age.
“It’s somebody who would not yet be of adult age, who is fully capable of understanding the options and the choices that are available–and the consequences of each–and is understood to have the capacity to make that decision,” he said.
Theman said doctors will still be able to opt out of providing assistance to patients who wish to die, but must provide patients with access.
“If I, as a physician, choose not to assist my patient, I need to make sure my patient has access and is not disadvantaged from gaining access to legally available procedures,” Theman said.
The slope is slippery.
Canada has not yet decriminalized assisted dying and the federal government has asked the Supreme Court for a six-month extension to legislate. Yet the Provincial College’s of Physicians and Surgeons are already expanding the criteria for killing and throwing doctors who oppose killing their patients “under the bus” by requiring them to refer their patients to those who will “assist” them to die.
“In addition to getting feedback on the advice document, the college is now looking at amending standards of practice around consent,” Tucker and Yourex-West reported. “These standards are guidelines doctors are expected to follow and if they don’t, they can be disciplined. The consent standards will be sent out for consultation in January and will return to council for review and final approval in spring 2016.”
Killing by lethal injection or prescribing lethal concoctions of drugs is not and will never be healthcare.
Editor’s note. This appeared at alexschadenberg.blogspot.com and is reprinted with permission.