When euthanasia and assisted suicide become normal, fighting for survival with terminal or even just difficult diagnoses becomes much harder. CTV news has reported that a Montreal psychologist has been caught attempting to persuade the husband of a woman with a terminal cancer diagnosis to euthanize her with an intentional overdose of morphine.
Despite her terminal diagnosis, Serge Simard’s wife, Miranda Edwards, was not ready to give up. She remained hopeful and resolute. “I will fight to the end. I will do every treatment, everything possible to stay alive,” she said.
As Miranda’s condition worsened, Simard sought treatment with a psychologist to help him cope with the situation. To his horror, the psychologist suggested that Simard euthanize his wife. He secretly recorded the session and has the psychologist on tape saying, “[A]t one point [the morphine] will be a dose too much and she just won’t wake up. It’s the best thing that could happen, really. She won’t be suffering anymore; she’ll be in a better place.”
Shockingly, Simard’s formal complaint that he filed was met with stony silence, and because the psychologist has since retired, the police are also choosing not to investigate.
“That’s not assisted suicide, that’s murder,” Simard said of the advice he was given. “I will not murder my wife. If Miranda voices anything I will respect her wishes. Miranda has never voiced that she wanted to pass away.”
READ: People in Europe are being euthanized without their consent
The pressure on Simard to end his wife’s life is yet another instance of the dangerous effects of legalized euthanasia on society. Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has been clear-eyed about the danger resulting from the country’s legalization of assisted suicide: “There is a growing tendency to promote ‘mercy killing’ as a solution to suffering, pain, aging, mental or physical challenges, social ills, rising health costs and cost containment. Sanctioning of euthanasia and assisted suicide (as in the Netherlands) has led to increased use of euthanasia without consent, circumvention of the law, and abuse of the vulnerable.”
Some, like Dutch ethicist Theo Boer, a former euthanasia proponent, have similarly sounded the alarm based on first-hand observations about the terrible effects that legalized assisted suicide has had on The Netherlands. As he points out, euthanasia expands from being available for the terminally ill to inevitably threatening society’s most vulnerable like the elderly, those with disabilities, mental illness, depression… or even children. And assisted suicide does not reduce the suicide rate, but instead causes it to spread like a contagion, with assisted suicide rates increasing by 15% per year in The Netherlands.
While police have refused to investigate the allegation, Simard and his wife have not ruled out a civil case against the psychologist.
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