Quebec’s Minister of Health, Gaetan Barrette, is pushing for both more cases of ‘medical aid in dying’ and a broadened application to include those predicted to have a year to live, it was reported in July.
Dr Paul Saba, a Montreal medical practitioner, continues to denounce the government's euthanasia law, which he is challenging in Quebec Superior Court.
He said: ‘Too many lives are being lost because the government is failing to protect people and instead encouraging them to throw away their lives.’
Saving money
Dr Saba continues to advocate for national cancer care and improved health care for all Canadians. The Canadian Government currently only spends 20 cents per dollar on health care compared to 50 cents in the early days of Medicare. He argues that given today’s circumstances of underfunded health care, some could think that the real reason the Canadian and Quebec Governments are promoting euthanasia is ‘to save money and allow people to die when in fact they or many of them could live many more valuable years if proper care was provided for them’.
There are a number of examples of lives that could have been lost if the present laws had existed a few years ago.
The first diagnostic error case arose in 2004, when 54-year-old Alexandre Montreuil underwent lung-removal surgery. During the surgery, an open biopsy revealed that he had been misdiagnosed with a large lung cancer. He actually had a rare fungal infection of blastomycosis. He was cured with anti-fungal medicines.
Montreuil considered suicide when first told of his lung cancer. If today's euthanasia laws had been available, he would have considered this option. Today he is avidly against euthanasia.
Another cancer misdiagnosis example is that of Ginette Dumesnil. In 2012 she was informed of a ‘plum-sized’ lung cancer. Surgery resulted in the discovery that the tumour was benign. Ginette believes that doctors can make mistakes, which could push some to prematurely end their lives with euthanasia. Dr Saba says this is consistent with medical studies confirming severe diagnostic errors in up to 20% of such cases.
