In the wake of Canada’s Supreme Court ordering full-tilt Belgium euthanasia yesterday, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association now says it is just fine for doctors to put patients down. (Hey, if the docs are going to embrace veterinarian-style ethics, we might as well use veterinarian-style jargon.)
This has been coming for some time as the CMA went weak-kneed in fighting the suicide scourge. Now, it calls lethally injecting patients a “therapeutic service.” From the CBC story:
As the legal environment changes, the CMA said it will support doctors and patients who find medical aid in dying their best option.
“What we want to do is really make sure patients who are eligible under the new rules have access to this therapeutic service, but at the same time we need to be very careful that physicians have the right to conscientious objection for moral or ethical reasons or religious reasons,” CMA president Dr. Chris Simpson said in an interview from Yellowknife.
At least the quote didn’t use the word, “treatment.” That would imply a professional interaction.
I suggest the CMA create the Jack Kevorkian Memorial Award for Excellence in Therapeutic-Terminations.