Assisted suicide opens the door to grave abuses of the elderly

Recently I had a conversation with friends about an aging relative in palliative care. My friends suggested that the elderly relative, who is in enormous pain and who is not going to recover no matter what is done, would likely wish to end his life medically if he had the choice.

Looked at from that perspective, legal euthanasia or assisted suicide seems like a humane option. My response to my friends, however, was immediately to point out that legalizing euthanasia would be opening a floodgate of abuse. Perhaps it's all the years I've spent trying to protect people (mostly seniors) from the financial predators in their lives, but I can envision one hell of  a lot of greedy individuals shortening their relatives' lives for financial gain.

Every day I hear rationalizations such as "I'm taking my mother's life savings because she doesn't really need it, living in a home as she does, and I'm going to inherit the money one day anyway". You'll notice the excuse has absolutely nothing to do with what the parent wants. It's all about the kids not wanting to wait any longer for their inheritance. Is it really such a big step to get to convincing oneself that the elderly parent doesn't need to be alive anymore?

Yesterday's edition  of the Toronto Star addressed this very issue in an article entitled "Assisted Suicide Opens the Door to Grave Abuses of the Elderly". Click here to read the article, which gives a good overview of the issue. While many seniors will automatically believe that this couldn't possibly happen to them, I have to remind them of the depressing fact that seniors are robbed, defrauded and physically abused by their closest relatives every day. None of those people thought it could happen either.

The illustration shown here was attached to the Toronto Star article cited, and is credited to Paul Lachine/Newsart.

Assisted suicide/euthanasia case is a recipe for elder abuse

I saw this story a day or two ago, and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I deal with seniors every day. My business is helping them set up their legal affairs so that when they pass away or lose mental capacity, someone is left in charge and things flow as smoothly as possible. One thing - one very disturbing thing - that I know is true is that family members and strangers alike find ways to abuse seniors financially. They find ways around the law, not to mention common decency.

So whenever the issues of assisted suicide or euthanasia come up, I look at them through the filter of my experience over the last 25 years dealing with the lives of seniors. It isn't pretty out there. The potential for abuse is horrifying to me. And yet, shouldn't an old, sick individual be able to decide that illness and suffering have made life unbearable?

Click here to read an article from http://www.newswire.ca/ about the imminent trial of Carter vs. Attorney General of Canada, which is trying to have assisted suicide and euthansia legalized. I'm looking forward to seeing how our courts deal with these difficult but important topics.

91 year old woman determined to keep selling suicide kits

This story from 10News.com talks about a 91-year-old grandmother from La Mesa, California who sells home-made suicide kits on the web to help people who want to commit suicide. Click here to read the story. Having met several older people who have stated their wish to die and get it over with, I can see what she is getting at. I can certainly also see the issues and problems. Assisted suicide is an issue that were going to have to deal with again, sooner or later.

Euthanasia - is it coming to Canada?

As an estate lawyer who is involved in planning that includes Personal Directives, I like to keep an eye on the law surrounding euthanasia for the terminally ill. For an update of where we are right now, read this article by Jasmine Sweatman.