{"id":1982,"date":"2017-09-15T19:40:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T19:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=1982\/"},"modified":"2018-10-26T15:35:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:35:24","slug":"webcast-archive-united-nations-favours-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2017\/09\/webcast-archive-united-nations-favours-assisted-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: United Nations favours assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mj7geqltOSI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of <em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray, and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>United Nations draft comment on the right to life favours assisted suicide<\/li>\n<li>Canadian Mental Health Association opposes expanding AS\/E to people with psychiatric disabilities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UNITED NATIONS DRAFT COMMENT ON \u201cRIGHT TO LIFE\u201d FAVOURS ASSISTED SUICIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In August, we found out that the United Nations Human Rights Committee was updating its general comment on the \u201cright to life\u201d section of the covenant on civil and political rights. The \u201cGeneral Comments\u201d are the Human Rights Committee\u2019s interpretation of Article 6 of the Covenant.\u00a0 This is the third time that an interpretation is being issued; the first since 1985.\u00a0 In the 10<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0paragraph, the update suggests that U.N. members should permit the legalization of assisted suicide. TVNDY will be submitting comments on this section (before the October 6 deadline) encouraging the U.N. to oppose AS\/E. \u00a0For more information, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/HRBodies\/CCPR\/Pages\/GC36-Article6Righttolife.aspx\">http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/HRBodies\/CCPR\/Pages\/GC36-Article6Righttolife.aspx<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>First, the U.N. statement recognizes that people think about suicide when in crisis and in a place of vulnerability. Therefore, the decision to end one\u2019s life cannot be made freely, and member States should prevent people from acting on suicidal feelings. This is the one excellent point in the whole section.<\/li>\n<li>The next part proposes that countries should allow, or not prevent \u201cmedical professionals to provide medical treatment or the medical means in order to facilitate the termination of life.\u201d In other words, countries should allow assisted suicide or euthanasia.\u00a0 As is usual in these discussions, the Committee starts sending mixed messages.<\/li>\n<li>The Committee\u2019s description of the people who would \u201cbenefit\u201d uses very ableist language. \u00a0AS\/E would be allowed for \u201c[catastrophically] afflicted adults, such as the mortally wounded or terminally ill, who experience severe physical or mental pain and suffering and wish to die with dignity.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Taking this sentence apart, the U.N. is reserving AS\/E for\n<ul>\n<li>afflicted adults\u2026<\/li>\n<li>who experience severe physical\u00a0<em>or mental\u00a0<\/em>pain and suffering, and<\/li>\n<li>[who] wish to die with dignity.<\/li>\n<li>Including a subset of people who are \u201cmortally wounded or terminally ill.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>What they\u2019re really saying is that assisted suicide and euthanasia are acceptable for people with physical and psychiatric disabilities\u2026and those who are dying.\u00a0 Mixed message indeed.<\/li>\n<li>The Committee doesn\u2019t talk about the cause of the physical or mental pain and suffering. While everyone who is eligible for assisted suicide has some kind of disability, life with a disability is not as awful as it is made out to be! Most problems associated with disability come from discrimination, physical barriers, and a lack of supports for independent living. That is certainly the case in rich nations like Canada, but solving such problems is the goal of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Canada signed in 2010. It is much more of a problem in the developing countries that are members of the U.N.<\/li>\n<li>Even when someone has pain from a terminal illness or life-threatening injury, it can almost always be managed with effective palliative care. Unfortunately, palliative care is not available to many people who need it. Most doctors receive little training in pain relief. Again, if this is true of doctors in wealthy countries, imagine the struggles of poorer medical systems around the world.<\/li>\n<li>Doctors must ensure their patient\u2019s decision is \u201cfree, informed, explicit, and unambiguous.\u201d Multiple factors can make the\u00a0<em>\u201cchoice\u201d<\/em>\u00a0to die anything but. Inequalities like the power imbalance between doctors and patients are made worse by stigma and discrimination. Depression and substance abuse may temporarily affect a person\u2019s outlook on life and ability to make decisions \u2013 the \u201cappeal\u201d of assisted suicide might change over time in these cases.<\/li>\n<li>The Committee asks countries to \u201censure the existence of robust legal and institutional safeguards\u201d to \u201c[protect] patients from pressure and abuse.\u201d As we\u2019ve seen in Canada, eligibility requirements and other limitations can be challenged and changed. Prognoses of terminal conditions might also be wrong. And when medical staff are involved in a death that dos not meet legal standards, of course they aren\u2019t going to tell anyone.<\/li>\n<li>People with disabilities, including elders, are more likely than non-disabled people to be abused financially, emotionally and physically. The addition of assisted suicide can make a dangerous situation lethal. Doctors in the Netherlands and the Flanders region of Belgium have already killed hundreds of people without an explicit request. And consider Kate Cheney, an 85-year-old woman with dementia. Though Kate was found incompetent to choose assisted suicide and vulnerable to coercion, her daughter shopped for a doctor until she got the approval for Kate\u2019s assisted suicide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION OPPOSES EXPANDING AS\/E TO PEOPLE WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Last week, the Canadian Mental Health Association released a position paper opposing assisted suicide for people who only have psychological conditions.<\/li>\n<li>The short version of their statement reads \u201cAs a recovery-oriented organization, CMHA does not believe that mental illnesses are irremediable, &#8230; We recognize that people with mental illnesses can experience unbearable psychological suffering as a result of their illness, but there is always the hope of recovery. CMHA\u2019s position on medical assistance in dying in Canada, is that people with a mental health problem or illness should be assisted to live and thrive.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The CMHA believes that, since mental illnesses are more likely to be \u201cmanaged\u201d than \u201ccured,\u201d and symptoms can respond to treatment, they do not cause \u201ca state of irreversible decline in capacity\u201d; nor would they result in a \u201creasonably foreseeable death.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The CMHA\u2019s biggest concern was the ability to change one\u2019s mind, as seen in a Belgian study where nearly half of the patients postponed or cancelled their request for assisted suicide. In a follow-up study done a year later of those still living, 84% of people were coping with the help of therapy or other means. This shows that, given time and support, the desire to die may change, especially if it is a symptom of a psychiatric disability.<\/li>\n<li>There were also concerns about shifting societal values as assisted suicide becomes more widely accepted, and other unaddressed social issues. The association cited a Dutch report that raised \u201cred flags\u201d; it showed that few people were seeking help, twice as many women as men were being euthanized for psychological reasons, and loneliness was a concern in half the requests.<\/li>\n<li>The three main points of the CMHA\u2019s position are:\n<ul>\n<li>belief in recovery (whether through coping strategies or relief of symptoms),<\/li>\n<li>the negative impact (loss of hope) of the health care provider\u2019s acceptance of the AS\/E request, and<\/li>\n<li>non-discrimination (people who qualify for AS\/E based on a physical condition should not be excluded if they also have a mental illness).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the CMHA called on the Canadian government to\n<ul>\n<li>support centres that focus on recovery,<\/li>\n<li>invest in community mental health services,<\/li>\n<li>develop a national suicide prevention strategy, and<\/li>\n<li>invest in research to better understand the causes of psychological conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week, we take a look at the United Nations&#8217; new comment on the right to life, which favours assisted suicide.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2017\/09\/webcast-archive-united-nations-favours-assisted-suicide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: United Nations favours assisted suicide&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2017\/09\/webcast-archive-united-nations-favours-assisted-suicide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: United Nations favours assisted suicide&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[121,253,118],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-united-nations","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1982"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3538,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions\/3538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}