Ready to die and in need of help

Ready to die and in need of help

BY LOCHAN BAKSHI, EDMONTON JOURNAL MARCH 24, 2012

I am 87. I have diabetes, am on dialysis and have shortness of breath.

I have fulfilled all my worldly responsibilities. I am now ready to die, but there is no dignified way to die in Canada.

Doctor-assisted death is forbidden in Alberta. So my only option is to refuse dialysis. It will then take about six days for me to die.

I wrote to my member of Parliament, Peter Goldring, asking him to place the topic on the Conservative caucus agenda in Ottawa. He replied by sending me a card asking about his popularity and that of Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff.

I know there are some slippery slopes in permitting doctor-assisted death. But we must face these very difficult issues boldly and establish the procedure in the province. After all, the states of Oregon and Washington have been practising it for quite some time.

If you visit long-term living facilities in Edmonton, as I have done, you will find people in vegetative states waiting to die. All they do is just breathe during the entire day. They do not have any visitors for months or even years. Some do not even know where they are. They have to be hand-fed and wiped. Many suffer acute pain and they keep crying out to die, but no one listens.

I do not want to vegetate. Life is more than just the ability to breathe. I have lived an active life as professor of biology for more than 50 years.

Having fulfilled all my responsibilities, I am now ready to die. If the doctors do not assist me, I have the power to refuse dialysis. I expect to exercise that power in the very near future.

In the meantime, I urge Albertans, and especially Premier Alison Redford, to take up this very important cause soon after the coming election.

Lochan Bakshi, professor emeritus of biolog y, Athabasca University, Edmonton

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Ready+need+help/6353717/story.html