Sunday 21 February 2016

Euthanasia in Canada: the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians must REJECT "The Proposal"



Late last year I was made aware of the grave dangers and errors of "The Proposal" by our dear friend and sister, Mary Wagner. It is a document drawn up by the Canadian Medical and Dental Society and co-sponsored by the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians  Societies and Canadian Physicians for Life. "The Proposal" was accepted by the Canadian Medical Association. All sides seemed happy; all could return to a comfortable life. The proponents of death would have an open path to expanding the culture of death unopposed; the physicians who found euthanasia wrong would agree not to actively resist and go quietly into the closet. Where "The Proposal" is coming from is quite evident even from the euthanasia language that it uses. The monied and multi-million dollar Foundation funded, First Things neo-con outfit, criticized Mary for her calling out the surrender of euthanasia. I have more than effectively rebutted the establishment's critique of her.  
 


Catholic blogger, Susan Fox, of Christ's Faithful Witness - a dear friend of mine who helped organize Mary Wagner's birthday gift of a Rosary Bouquet - has written an analysis of "The Proposal" as well as her observations of the manner in which those who should be leading the charge against this evil have just surrendered. I cannot recommend Susan's article enough. 

Susan writes: 

Canadian physicians with consciences wrote up “The Proposal” to the Canadian Medical Association. It was offered by the Christian Medical and Dental Society with the support of the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians' Societies and Canadian Physicians for Life.

In it, they developed a “safe” approach to saving their consciences and staying out of jail. They could not in good conscience refer a patient to be euthanized, but they could, in fact, inform them that they might self-refer themselves. Patients are autonomous agents, after all, and able to make their own choices.

 In the physician’s defense, they propose to try and “cure” the patient first of whatever is causing him to choose death.

But what is the difference between referring and informing someone about euthanasia? Catholic Theologian in Training, Lawrence Fox, who grew up on the rough streets of Baltimore, answered the question. “You tell them you can’t condone stealing, but you’d be happy to tell them where nobody’s looking!”


Once again I ask: when will the evil "The Proposal" be rejected? 

2 comments:

Lawrence and Susan Fox said...

We weigh heavily on the same page, good friend. God bless you. Susan Fox www.christsfaithfulwitness.com

Freyr said...

I reject the proposal. However I suspect that isn't quite what you are after. The section on conscience protection on the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians website is quite different from the proposal. What specifically do you want them to do?