Nov 10, 2019

Dear Mr. Andrew Fillmore,

As one of your constituents in Halifax, I am joining many others who are speaking out on behalf of our nation’s most vulnerable and asking that you bring your voice to our plea to preserve the end of life threshold for assisted death in Canada. Our most vulnerable include, people with intellectual developmental disabilities, dementia, brain injury, mental health illness and severe physical disabilities. My fear is people from these populations could be induced to end their lives prematurely if there is a change in the end of life threshold.

People from vulnerable populations struggle to access the basics in life; simple things that allow them to eat, toilet, dress and look after personal hygiene. These populations also struggle to access the basics in death; things like comfort, peace and companionship. These are the people that could be convinced or have others in authority convinced that the remainder of their life is not worth living. My fear is once we start rationalizing when and why people should die our vulnerable populations will be in grievous danger.    

I have been a family physician in Nova Scotia for thirty years. I have seen people and families go through the dying process. It can be frightening and chaotic. People often fear they cannot get through the dying process with any semblance of peace, comfort or dignity. Many do not see viable alternatives to medical assistance in death. This is tragic and it is a shortcoming of our society and government. We have not made the dying process a priority.

I want to point out that choosing to die goes against everything we have evolved to be. We are hardwired to live. As a society and responsible government, we have to pause and ask why people are looking to make this choice. I would say it is because we are not able to provide a reasonable alternative. When I think of the amazing advances we have made in palliative care and hospice, death should not be something we run toward. As a society and government, we can do better. We can make end of life care alternatives more visible, personal and readily available to everyone in need.

The people who will bear the brunt of changing the end of life threshold for assisted death is our most vulnerable. We have to stop and realize that the goal here should not be to choose death when we want it. The goal is to have peace, comfort and meaning in death; this is worth paying attention to and paying for. This is a path we will all pass through some day; it is a good investment.

Please help our government to carefully rethink this important decision to change the end of life threshold. Changing the threshold will put our most vulnerable in harm's way. Realigning our priorities to focus on a culture that respects and invests in supporting people to navigate the death and dying process will benefit everyone.

Sincerely

Karen McNeil MD