Jump to comment:
- Page navigation anchor for RE: Semantics in referring for medical assistance in dyingRE: Semantics in referring for medical assistance in dying
I disagree with Dr. Brown. The religious and conscience rights of Canadians are not fully protected if they are not free to fully participate in the public square, including the practice of medicine. Physicians may decline to participate in MAiD because of their religious convictions or because they, like generations of doctors before them, do not believe it is good medicine. Physicians may differ in what they believe is good medicine, most especially in an area as serious as MAiD. Either way, it is not so easy for a family physician who objects to MAiD to change specialties mid-career. Dr. Brown states that he cannot imagine why giving general information about MAiD is any different from providing an effective referral for it. Surely, the latter equates with a recommendation for a particular course of action, while the former does not. Providing a phone number to the MAiD consultation service is a step in the process that some physicians also do not want to take. The fact that some of our governing authorities may not appreciate the increasing degree of participation in MAiD from providing information to giving a phone number to facilitating a referral is a major reason that conscience rights need to be protected by the Charter. To argue that “this is semantics”1 demonstrates that one has not yet come to fully understand the ethical differences among these actions and what is at stake.
1. CMAJ 2018 June 4;190: E692. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.69260
Show More
2. CM...Competing Interests: Co-chair, Alberta Committee for Conscience Protection