CCBI News – Euthanasia Proposed for Severely Ill Babies; Euthanasia For “Incurable Depression” Violates Consent

October 14, 2022

Dear Friends of CCBI,

Proposal to Euthanize Babies with Severe Health Problems

Perhaps the worst news in bioethics in Canada this week is the proposal to euthanize babies who have severe illnesses or handicaps. Not only is infanticide gravely evil, but it represents another step in the direction of free ‘choice’ where euthanasia is concerned. Once again, the cloak of ‘compassion’ is invoked – we are only trying to prevent these tiny humans from enduring what their doctors view as a life of suffering. There is no doubt that some of the problems these children will face will be severe, but that does not justify parents being advised to put their own children to death. Time after time we read of people who endure incredible challenges and inspire the rest of us by their attitude. One of my heroes is Baroness Jane Campbell, who sits in the House of Lords in the UK and is frequently hospitalized because of spinal muscular atrophy present since birth, yet bounces back to defend those with handicaps at every opportunity she finds. She’s the type deserving of the accolade ‘indomitable,’ and her influence is powerful, politically and socially, not to mention morally!

Along with the personal witness of many brave people who persevere through severe physical problems and handicaps, we should not discount the reality of rapid changes and discoveries in medicine, where cures, management and treatments are being discovered on an ongoing basis. Advising the death of a child within that context should give medical advisors pause, since preventing death and protecting life should be second-nature to their calling as healers. Nor should we discount the possibility that a specific diagnosis could be inaccurate or could change. Doctors must advise in light of their expertise, of course, but not give advice to end someone’s life. They simply cannot tell or predict whether any given life is ‘worth living.’ That is not their remit, and they should not be allowed to exercise it.

The original ‘safeguards’ in Canada’s legalization of euthanasia (MAiD) required those who qualify for the procedure to be of legal age and of sound mind. It must now be clear to many more people that those cautions were quite deliberately made as the thin edge of a wedge to allow initial legislation to be passed, lulling people into a false sense of security. That was as recently as 2016, yet government proposals for extensions have followed rapidly, removing the requirement for showing death as imminent, paving the way for giving advance consent in cases of people diagnosed with early dementia, moving towards allowing euthanasia for those with certain forms of mental illnesses, and raising the possibility, as yet resisted, of euthanizing minors. Apart from agreeing that these actions are morally wrong and completely against Catholic teaching, we need to realize that the legal necessity for consent as a form of protection of the individual is being quietly eroded. This is being done gradually and quietly, while most people either do not realize or suspect this or are not concerned about the implications. 

Those of us who believe in the protection of all human beings from conception until natural death need to be vigilant about these matters and to lodge our protests against ALL forms of euthanasia, already available or being considered, while at the same time continuing to seek improvements in the availability of palliative care in Canada and beyond, i.e., palliative care as a human need.

One excellent way of promoting palliative care among Catholics is to become informed about the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCCB) program ‘Horizons of Hope,’ a parish-based program exploring the importance of accompanying people at end-of-life and raising awareness of the importance and availability of palliative and other community care, etc. These topics are discussed within a Catholic, spiritual context that calls us, where possible, to become more involved in helping our seniors, elders and anyone at end-of-life to retain their membership in the believing community, as well as their personal dignity. The program is being promoted in every diocese and is underway, for example, in the Archdiocese of Toronto under the aegis of Catholic Charities. CCBI is happy to be part of ‘Horizons of Hope,’ both in collaborating earlier in the writing of the program and now in helping to facilitate it, promoting awareness of it as important information for all of us who respect life at every stage.

Resources
Proposal to euthanize infants: https://youtu.be/Zq3LVJYlVM
Jane Campbell, Advocate for people with disabilities: https://youtu.be/-WleL1ww7Qs
Introduction to Horizons of Hope: https://youtu.be/W93iYGzzv_0

Mother with Severe Depression Euthanized / Family Unaware!

“In an October 4 judgment, Europe’s highest human rights court has ruled that Belgium violated the right to life in the 2012 euthanasia of Godelieva de Troyer, who died by lethal injection at age 64. Her diagnosis? ‘Incurable depression,’ and otherwise good physical health.”

Ten years after the event, Mme de Troyer’s son, Tom Mortier, feels his efforts have been successful in making it known that euthanasia is performed on those unable to consent properly, for example, in the case of his mother who was euthanized despite her incurable depression. The European court said his mother’s right to life had been violated and that the committee reviewing her case had not been ‘independent.’ Newsweek stated: “In a shocking conflict of interest, the same doctor who euthanized Tom’s mother heads the federal commission that reviews euthanasia in Belgium for legal compliance. This commission voted “unanimously” to approve Godlieva’s euthanasia. The doctor also leads a pro-euthanasia organization that received a donation from his patient prior to her death.” The article noted that her physician is an oncologist, not a psychiatrist, another factor that makes Belgium’s approach to reviewing applications for such procedures seem, to put it mildly, lax.

To make matters worse for her son, Tom Mortier was told his mother was dead only after the procedure, when he could do nothing to intervene. Despite existing legal and moral questions about consent in cases where patients suffer severe mental illnesses such as incurable depression, the Court did not censure the current Belgian system, rather its verdict pointed out inadequacies in this particular case along with its concern that euthanasia protocols be properly observed. This legal but ‘clinical’ approach is chilling in its implications for families who will want to protect loved ones with such illnesses from making such decisions without the family’s knowledge, in circumstances where their capacity to consent is undoubtedly diminished.

Pope Francis’ Intention for October

A Church Open to Everyone
We pray for the Church; ever faithful to, and courageous in preaching the Gospel, may the Church be a community of solidarity, fraternity and welcome, always living in an atmosphere of synodality.

Moira and Bambi