The debate raised over euthanasia touches us all

The existence of Geoffrey Kelley’s commission on euthanasia indicates that Quebecers are ready to tackle death. They’ve done abortion, gay rights and immigration. Now, it’s time to move on to death. Nothing but the big ones!

And no wonder so many people have something to say about euthanasia. We’re all involved. There’s no avoiding it. We’re all under the same sentence of death. You spend most of your time not thinking about it, but it’s just a question of when and how. And do you get to choose how or don’t you?

Notice how I say "you" and not "we." Death is an event we don’t want to be part of. Woody Allen’s right. You don’t mind dying, but you just don’t want to be there when it happens. Can I have a raincheck? you ask the hooded monk figure with the scythe. No, this is one of the things that might happen to "you" but not to "me." Not yet, anyway.

And not only do I not want to be present at my own death: I’d like to skip all the others, too, particularly people close to me.

No need to be surprised about the euthanasia debate coming up in Quebec. Modern Quebec has a history of taking the lead in public debate on hot topics; and this time we’re all intimately involved in the topic, even if we’re denying it. It’s not abortion, it’s not homosexuality and gay marriage: it’s death. Once again, as argued by demographer Michael Adams in Unlikely Utopia, Quebec is just more radical than all other regions in North America in challenging and transforming its attitudes, values and laws. It’s like the tail-end of that cultural hurricane, the Quiet Revolution.

One can understand why the doctors want a legislated change: all the responsibility falls on them. And for now, I assume, that they have to act in the grey zone between assisting and just letting "nature take its course."

My father was a family doctor in England after the war and I’m sure he assisted some of his patients in their last illnesses. He didn’t admit it. (And I’m sure I asked when I, myself, was studying for medical exams.) But there were a lot of things in his work which he didn’t talk about.

Closer to the bone, my mother died recently and when the decision was made to take her off all her medications, it was clear that the decision probably meant that as a result she would not survive. This wasn’t an easy decision for anyone but it’s not euthanasia. And my mother was in a coma. Where do you stop all the interventions? And how was the decision made? Were there economic reasons? Did the hospital need the bed?

Undoubtedly. Hospitals are jammed with fragile people who are taking up the space that could be taken by patients who have a better chance of surviving the hospital experience.

The Gazette editorial position was very clear, which, in this case and at this stage in the debate, is probably a virtue. The editorial presented a persuasive argument against any legislation. But I wonder how this position, with its persuasive clarity, will look in 20 years time.

The French media, on the other hand, were more conflicted. Chantal Hebert, writing in the Toronto Star, asserts that Quebec is once again "pushing the envelope" on a potential shift in Canadian attitude to a major public issue. Polls are showing 70 per cent of Quebecers and Quebec doctors are in favour of decriminalizing euthanasia. This means that even if there is no legislative change in the next years, we will soon enough have Quebec juries that will refuse to apply the law as they did in case of Henry Morgantaler and abortion on demand.

Everyone has a vested interest in this debate. Right now it’s your mother or father. In 20 years, it’s your turn to be the object of this discussion.

I can’t help thinking that our MNA, Geoffrey Kelley, is the right person to chair this commission. He’s very thoughtful, compassionate, a reader, a teacher by profession and inclined to listen to all sides of a debate. He was a leader in the movement to create the West Island Palliative Care Centre and he has followed its evolution since it opened its doors.

Don’t expect anything but a well-balanced, respectful and helpful set of recommendations from this commission.

Bill Tierney is the former mayor of Ste. Anne de Bellevue.