Follow him on 
A couple of interesting stories in the Toronto Star this morning, looking at two medical ethics issues. I was out of town, so didn't write either.
The first looked at when a woman is too old to have a baby, sparked by the death of Maria del Carmen Bousada, who gave birth to twins in December 2006 at age 66.
When it comes to motherhood, how old is too old?
Fertility experts and ethicists re-examined that question yesterday after hearing that a 69-year-old Spanish mother died Saturday, leaving behind 2-year-old twins conceived with a younger woman's eggs and donated sperm.
Maria del Carmen Bousada is believed to have been the world's oldest new mother. She gave birth in December 2006, shortly before her 67th birthday, after telling a clinic in Los Angeles she was 55, the facility's maximum age for single women receiving in-vitro fertilization.
The story goes on to outline the medical reasons for most in-vitro clinics to refuse the treatment to older patients -- the children have more health problrms -- and concluded with Margaret Somerville of McGill questioning whether medical science should be used to do things that are impossible in nature, rather than just stepping in when nature fails.
The other story looked at the other end of the spectrum. Pegged to the assisted suicide death of British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, at a Swiss clinic it asked whether more countries, including Canada, should allow assisted suicide.
"Whenever it's in the news, we know this comes up again and again," said Olga Krassioukova-Enns, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Canadian Centre for Disability Issues. "This issue, this question, affects people with disabilities and seniors and anyone part of a family."
In May, Bloc Québécois MP Francine Lalonde of Montreal reintroduced a private members' bill to amend the Criminal Code to allow assisted suicide. A similar one she introduced in 2005 failed.
A number of high-profile cases in Quebec recently drove her to try to get the bill passed again.
"We need to have this in order to allow people to make their own choice under certain conditions when the time is right for them to die," said Lalonde yesterday.
Last year, a Quebec man was acquitted after he was charged with helping his disabled uncle commit suicide. A Vancouver man was charged in May with giving his friend a loaded shotgun and a demonstration on how to use the weapon to commit suicide.
Alex Schadenberg, founder of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said Canadians want better end-of-life care. The mindset that older people and those with disabilities don't want to live as long as possible is a misconception, he said.
Babies are born willy-nilly all the time. Even to young people. It's the intention behind having the baby that counts not who has it or when. Roberta Bondar, when asked why she didn't have any children, replied there are no guarantees that having a child will turn out to be a positive experience -- for the parents or the child. She is right. It's a cruel gamble.
About euthanasia. This debate is pre-planned. Before adopting a procedure as medical care, the public has to become habituated to it, or in other words get sick of hearing about it. Euthanasia is a fantastic way for the govt to cut medical costs. It's just a question of making it fashionable. People are dying everyday in hospitals on account of withheld treatment, and specifically to allow death so what's the difference?
Euthansia I guess, would be instant death. I don't see euthanasia as good however, because the person has to agree to do it, and with a sane mind to consider I would think his decision would be a very difficult one to psychologically bear. Try persuading your mind to let you kill yourself.
Alex Schadenberg probably has the right idea. I'll quote his name and movement if this happens to me.
Posted by: terryb | July 17, 2009 at 08:01 AM
I believe it's near to cruel and very selfish giving birth to children so late in your life - it's not fair on the children, who are the ones that will suffer in the end.
Posted by: medical equipment | July 23, 2009 at 11:13 AM
It's not safe to give birth at very late age.
Posted by: Ron Smith | July 25, 2009 at 04:58 AM
its a very sensitive topic and one that needs to be considered carefully and judged case by case
Posted by: medical equipment | August 12, 2009 at 06:28 AM
Problem is, who does the judging? There is too much darn judging going on of other people's choices and their human worth -- and the standards are completely arbitrary! The urge to streamline human behaviour to suit business interests is terrifying. What we need instead is a fully informed population i.e. if the government provides a medical system the public needs to know what the values of that system are.
People should be able to reason that their chances may be better if they DON'T go to a hospital. For that they need to know what goes on there.
About reproduction: Many religions love reproduction at any age to boost their membership, so there again, is an example of institutions ruling the show and not being open about their intentions. There is too much manipulation of the little guy so that he will work, breed and spend his money according to some other vision amd self-interest. If it was the norm for people to be told the truth rather than always kept hoping, trusting and buying, there would be more self-determination and a completely different society.
We could at least keep this in mind...!
Posted by: terryb | August 12, 2009 at 07:47 AM
it's very helpful article nice... keep it up
Posted by: Nilesh Gajera | October 14, 2010 at 05:42 AM