If death had been an option…
Steven Fletcher is a hero. He is the first wheelchair bound Member of Parliament. As a quadriplegic, he has overcome many odds to be the Minister of State for Democratic Reform.
Naturally, when he writes an opinion piece for the National Post, his views will hold a lot of sway. He argues that while Canadian policy should favour life, he believes euthanasia should be an option for certain individuals who are otherwise suffering.
But this is one case where one cannot accept his voice as speaking on behalf of those with disabilities. Quite honestly, if that option had been available to him, he would not now be alive.
Steven Fletcher is a C4 quadriplegic. This means that he has no feeling or control of his body below the neck. He became a quadriplegic in 1996 after hitting a moose with his vehicle. He survived only by sheer strength of character.
Like many spinal cord injury victims, Fletcher at first wanted to die. But he did not. He is confined to a wheelchair and requires a 24-hour-a-day attendant.
He has since completed an MBA at the University of Manitoba where he also served as president of the student union.
He has been a Member of Parliament since 2004 and was sworn into Cabinet in 2008.
Fletcher has lived through a horrific accident and faces ongoing challenges; it is important to hear his voice. He wants to make it possible for those who cannot live with their conditions to choose to die. But the reality is that if he had been permitted to choose euthanasia, he likely would have taken it.
Option to die
One can readily imagine that Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes in Heaven, would have chosen to die if that option had been open. Piper died and was revived into a body that was badly injured in a car accident. He wrote the book about his phenomenal experience in heaven followed by months of excruciating pain as doctors tried to make his leg bones re-grow.
Piper makes it clear that heaven is a really great place to be…and he preferred it there. But he was called back to Earth for a purpose.
Somehow we have gotten it into our heads that suffering is to be avoided. We have the health, wealth and prosperity gospel that says that God wants all of us to be blessed with these attributes all the time, that the normal Christian life is a bed of roses with no thorns.
But just taking the examples of Fletcher and Piper, suffering and adversity breeds strength, determination and leadership.
St. Paul says as much in his Epistle to the Romans. "We also rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3,4).
Legitimate concerns
Fletcher acknowledges that there are legitimate concerns with opening the door to euthanasia too wide. He recognizes that many people with disabilities and diseases will feel pressured to end their lives. For these reasons, he does not support bill C-384, a private member's bill that would legalize euthanasia.
As a lawyer, I have seen elderly clients who were pressured by their children into doing things they did not want to do. Heaven help those aging parents who are a burden on their children and whose family sees the dollars they might inherit under the will.
And what temptation for solving the so-called health-care crisis if patients that take up too many resources are encouraged to just end it all. Or even worse, end it for them without asking consent.
The laws against euthanasia (we call it murder) and assisted suicide were put in place for a reason—to protect the vulnerable. And the vulnerable still need protection.
If bill C-384 is defeated—and is likely to be—another bill will be introduced. There is tremendous pressure in our individualistic society to open the door to "choose death." But Christians must stand for the vulnerable.
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