{"id":3858,"date":"2018-11-09T17:57:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T17:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=3858"},"modified":"2018-11-27T14:42:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T14:42:12","slug":"webcast-archive-audrey-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/11\/webcast-archive-audrey-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: Audrey Parker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dM3jQF7bVOg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray, and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Audrey Parker euthanasia<\/li>\n<li>Conscience rights legislation<\/li>\n<li>U.N. General Comment on the right to life<\/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>AUDREY PARKER EUTHANASIA<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Last week, assisted suicide made both national and international headlines.\u00a0<strong>Audrey Parker<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/4620591\/halifaxs-audrey-parker-who-pushed-for-assisted-dying-changes-dies\/\">died at her home in Halifax<\/a>\u00a0on November 1. Ms. Parker objected to the requirement in the Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (AS\/E) law that requires the person to be capable of giving consent when death is administered; and she spent her final weeks campaigning for the use of advance directives for AS\/E. Although Ms. Parker would have liked \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/justice-minister-assisted-dying-1.4889715\">to make it to Christmas and New Year\u2019s Eve<\/a>,\u201d she feared that the progression of her terminal illness would have made her unable to consent to a lethal injection at that time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The Minister of Justice, Jody Wilson-Raybould, noted that the federal government was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/justice-minister-assisted-dying-1.4889715\">\u201cnot considering\u201d a change in the legislation<\/a>\u00a0in response to Ms. Parker\u2019s request. However,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2017\/09\/webcast-archive-170908\/\">the Council of Canadian Academies<\/a>\u00a0is set to make recommendations on this issue in their report to be released next month.<\/li>\n<li>There are two major issues at play.\n<ul>\n<li>First: did Parliament\u2019s declaration that suicide was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/suicide\">no longer a criminal offense<\/a>\u00a0(as of 1972), create a \u201cright\u201d to commit suicide? \u00a0In the 1993\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/scc-csc.lexum.com\/scc-csc\/scc-csc\/en\/item\/1054\/index.do\">Rodriguez v. British Columbia<\/a><\/em>\u00a0decision, the Supreme Court said that \u201cParliament&#8217;s repeal of the offence of attempted suicide from the\u00a0Criminal Code\u00a0was not a recognition that suicide was to be accepted within Canadian society.\u00a0 Rather \u2026 that the criminal law was an ineffectual and inappropriate tool for dealing with suicide attempts.\u201d\u00a0 Even in the\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/scc-csc.lexum.com\/scc-csc\/scc-csc\/en\/item\/14637\/index.do\">Carter case<\/a><\/em>, the SCC\u2019s endorsement of \u201cthe narrow goal of preventing vulnerable persons from being induced to commit suicide at a time of weakness,\u201d signals that the court does not see a \u201cright\u201d to commit suicide.<\/li>\n<li>Second, removing the requirement to consent to euthanasia when it is administered could cut lives short unnecessarily. We\u2019ve already seen people make requests in advance, who then change their minds when they arrive at the moment of truth, especially after they\u2019ve had time to adjust to an acquired condition. Think of the Dutch woman who was sedated but\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2018\/07\/25\/dutch-doctor-reprimanded-asking-family-hold-euthanasia-patient\/\">struggled against those who held her down<\/a>\u00a0for the lethal injection, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2013\/09\/bentley-case-summary\/\">the story of Margot Bentley<\/a>\u00a0in British Columbia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>CONSCIENCE RIGHTS LEGISLATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On October 30, Alberta MP\u00a0<strong>David Anderson<\/strong>\u00a0introduced Bill C-418, the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.parl.ca\/DocumentViewer\/en\/42-1\/bill\/C-418\/first-reading\">Protection of Freedom of Conscience Act<\/a>, in an effort to protect medical practitioners who refuse to participate in or refer for AS\/E. The preamble recognizes the rights of health care professionals to act in accordance with their conscience, and calls forced referral a violation of that right. Yet the two new offenses created by the bill don\u2019t really address that problem.\n<ul>\n<li>The first offense is described as \u201ccompelling a medical practitioner\u2026 [to take part in medical assistance in dying using] violence or threats of violence, coercion or any other form of intimidation.\u201d The phrase \u201cany other form of intimidation\u201d must cover the wide range of common and subtle pressure tactics medical staff face; such as being excluded from training opportunities or being \u201cfrozen out\u201d of professional groups or relationships.\u00a0 A doctor is more likely to be denied a promotion than face physical violence.<\/li>\n<li>The bill also prohibits \u201cany person\u201d from firing or refusing to employ a medical practitioner \u201cfor the reason only that such a practitioner refuses to take part\u201d in AS\/E. \u00a0However, this section won\u2019t protect people from negative performance reviews, demotions, reassignments or other adverse employment actions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>As with other types of discrimination, employers don\u2019t usually declare their illegal motivations, they simply make up some other excuse for the negative job action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>U.N. GENERAL COMMENT ON THE RIGHT TO LIFE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally,\u00a0<strong>the United Nations Human Rights Committee<\/strong>\u00a0released\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tbinternet.ohchr.org\/Treaties\/CCPR\/Shared%20Documents\/1_Global\/CCPR_C_GC_36_8785_E.pdf\">the final version of general comment 36<\/a>\u00a0on the right to life. (You may remember\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/Documents\/HRBodies\/CCPR\/GCArticle6\/ToujoursVivantNotDeadYet.docx\">the comments we submitted<\/a>\u00a0last year in response to paragraph 10 of the draft proposal which related to AS\/E.) The Committee didn\u2019t accept our recommendations, and very few changes were made to the final version.<\/li>\n<li>On the positive side, the final version still stresses the need \u201cto prevent suicides, especially among individuals in particularly vulnerable situations, including individuals deprived of their liberty.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s not clear whether \u201cindividuals deprived of their liberty\u201d refers to people living in nursing homes or psychiatric facilities, to prisoners, or to all three.<\/li>\n<li>In the draft version, the general comment, the authors had not decided between whether states parties \u201cmay allow\u201d or \u201cshould not prevent\u201d AS\/E.\u00a0 In the final version, the comment refers to \u201cStates parties that allow \u2026\u201d On the one hand, the Human Rights Committee avoids taking a position on \u201callowing\u201d or \u201cnot preventing\u201d AS\/E.\u00a0 On the other hand, the Committee accepts AS\/E as a \u201cdone deal.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Once again, the general comment did not mention the effects of discrimination and obstacles that limit disabled people\u2019s life choices and make assisted suicide seem attractive. The final version:\n<ul>\n<li>continued to use the pro-euthanasia catch phrases \u201cpain and suffering\u201d and \u201cdie with dignity.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>still contains ableist language; those who seek AS\/E are referred to as \u201cafflicted adults,\u201d and<\/li>\n<li>\u201cmental pain and suffering\u201d is enough to qualify for AS\/E.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>All three of these stories demonstrate the importance of a disability rights opposition to euthanasia, and show the problems that are created when disabled voices are left out of the conversation!\u00a0 The disability community must continue to speak out:\n<ul>\n<li>Against creating a \u201cright\u201d to commit suicide;<\/li>\n<li>To prevent the expansion of AS\/E eligibility by advance directives;<\/li>\n<li>For the rights of medical professionals to practice life-saving (as opposed to life-ending) medicine; and<\/li>\n<li>recognizing that AS\/E are a threat to the right to life of disabled people around the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nToday, we discuss the problems with Audrey Parker&#8217;s campaign to remove consent requirements for euthanasia.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/11\/webcast-archive-audrey-parker\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Audrey Parker&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/11\/webcast-archive-audrey-parker\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Audrey Parker&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":[268,245,269,256,121,194,193,270,253,118],"class_list":["post-3858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-bentley","tag-bill","tag-carter","tag-council-of-canadian-academies","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-parlement","tag-parliament","tag-supreme-court","tag-united-nations","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3858","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=3858"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3972,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3858\/revisions\/3972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}