Yk doc key in assisted suicide ruling
Dr. Ewan Affleck instrumental in penning resolution considered by Supreme Court
Elaine Anselmi
Northern News Services
Published Friday, February 13, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In the Supreme Court of Canada's recent ruling in favour of medically assisted suicide, a resolution drafted by Dr. Ewan Affleck was one of the points of consideration.
Dr. Ewan Affleck wrote the Canadian Medical Association's resolution on medically assisted death. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo |
"We have a fundamental social contract with Canadians to provide comprehensive quality care," Affleck told Yellowknifer following the ruling.
"There have been instances ... where we have been unable to follow the desires and the will of some patients and this may have led to some needless suffering."
Affleck is the medical director of family medicine with the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority and the NWT representative on the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) board.
"We had been discussing this issue at length at the level of the board for a good long while because it is an important issue," said Affleck.
"We had a lot of debates and then I sat down and wrote a proposal for a motion and then took it back to the board as a board member and it was quite uniformly well accepted."
Due to his own experiences, Affleck said he is passionate about the issue of end-of-life choices.
"I've had a lot of death in my family from cancers; sisters, brothers, friends, my mother and father," said Affleck.
"Many people have been upset by the inability to sort of ... chart the course of their life, people have addressed this with me over the years."
Under the Supreme Court ruling, the law preventing anyone from assisting another person in ending their life will be amended to allow doctors to step in, in certain circumstances. Federal, provincial and territorial governments have one year to write legislation around medically assisted suicide, until which point the current ban stands.
"CMA applied for intervener status with the Supreme Court," said Affleck. "That was some of the urgency in developing our position, we knew the Supreme Court was moving forward and we wished to have a clear position."
That position supports the choice of doctors to take part in physician-assisted suicide if they wish. Rather than taking a stance on whether it's right or wrong, Affleck said the National Medical Association's focus is providing the best care possible to patients and supporting the conscience of its membership.
In announcing its ruling, the Supreme Court quoted aspects of the association's free-choice resolution that supports tolerance within legal parameters.
Medical association president Chris Simpson was in Yellowknife last Friday when the ruling was made and sat down with Yellowknifer to discuss what it could mean for Canadians.
"On a practical level, we need really specific guidelines about who is eligible," said Simpson.
He recognized threat of a "slippery slope" and the need to protect vulnerable people.
It was clarified in the ruling that it applies only to consenting adults who are fully competent and suffering from unbearable long-term illnesses.
"I really want to send the message out that we will always support (vulnerable people)," Simpson said.
Through carefully detailed legislation, he said those people would still be protected while allowing others the right to die.
Both Simpson and Affleck said the medical association would continue to work with the different levels of government in writing the law around physician-assisted suicide.
"The CMA needs to do a more detailed analysis of the implications of the decision," Affleck said.
"We want to work closely with (government) in drafting legislation to ensure our perspective is clearly represented. That is, again, that physicians are supported to follow their conscience."
Affleck said he hoped to see the federal government take the lead on writing the legislation, making it nationally implemented, rather than varying between the provinces and territories.
"I've been a physician for 25 years and this is an important issue for all Canadians whether you support it or refute it. The motion I wrote really protects both viewpoints," said Affleck.
"I feel a quiet contentment. I hope that this will result in carefully constructed policies that allow individuals to get the care that they wish to have."
