John A. J. Emmett, MD, FRCP(C)
I am a physician specializing in the management of chronic pain.
I treat my chronic pain patients with injections of local anaesthetic agents that interrupt the transmission of pain sensation on a temporary basis. These injections have to be repeated as they block the pain sensations only for a short period. With repeated injections, the pain relief lasts longer This pain relief is never complete. The injections modify the pain severity so that it becomes more tolerable. There are some patients whose pain is so severe that it is not possible to modify it to a tolerable level. These patients are forced to live their lives in constant excruciating pain. How can we possibly justify forcing these people to continue to live under such intolerable conditions?
I would like now to say a few words in Robert Latimer's defence. As a doctor who treats patients with chronic pain, I can easily understand the predicament in which Robert Latimer found himself. He loved his daughter very much and could not stand watching her constant daily suffering. She was crippled and could not end the suffering herself. I can understand his dilemma.
I have recently become aware of a poll conducted by Leger Marketing suggesting that 76% of Canadians believe that someone who has helped end the life of a loved one suffering from an incurable and extremely painful illness should not be prosecuted . This report was published in the Globe and Mail on Monday, July 2, 2001. It strongly suggests that the people of Canada are more advanced in their liberal social thinking than is their government or their Supreme Court.
What a wonderful opportunity it would be for the Government of Canada to seize the initiative from its own people and take the first step towards freeing Robert Latimer from his unjust prosecution and incarceration. If such a step were taken, it would certainly place Canada at the forefront of socially progressive nations and establish Canada as a nation in which social justice prevails.
John A. J. Emmett,
MD, FRCP(C)
