Do you know what the laws are in Canada on doctor-assisted suicide and how we got to the current laws? In his recent filming trip to Ottawa, Andy had a chance to sit down with Harold Albrecht, the Member of Parliament for the Kitchener-Conestoga riding, to get an insider's view. How does the question of dying well connect to the question of human value? Tune in to this week's episode of the AC Podcast to hear more.
Doctor-Assisted Suicide: An Interview with Harold Albrecht, MP
Links & Articles
The Human Project website
Intro Music
Pivot
by Zac Nelson
Outro Music
Tone Land
by Distant Movement
I agree with the mental anguish side of this argument. Someone shouldn’t commit suicide because of emotional distress, as it will pass. We should also be careful not to end someone’s life out of mere conveniance.
However, as a Christian, I think it is a moral obligation to end someone’s endless physical suffering. As a Canadian, if I am suffering and living to die, I would like easy access to assisted dying.
I think medical technology is often keeping people alive and suffering for longer than they would have naturally. I am certainly not against medical treatment, it can work wonders, but we also shouldn’t hold a person in their great pain while waiting for some potential miracle cure.
I think the anti assisted-dying position is sometimes taking a secular mindset. This is the only life we have, so we should lengthen it as long as possible. Similarly, people don’t want to let go of their loved ones, so they keep them alive (but suffering) for as long as possible.
As a Christian, I believe it is only the body that dies, a person’s soul/mind/consciousness will live on. I don’t believe that assisted dying is ending a life, but ending incurable pain and gracefully moving a person into the next life.