by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
February 3, 2005
Last Friday, 78-year-old Marcel Tremblay of Kanata, Ontario killed himself after publicly announcing that he would take his own life.
Tremblay had been suffering from several ailments including one affecting his lungs that was not only painful, but made it increasingly more difficult for him to breathe.
after first announcing what he intended to do, Tremblay was examined by doctors and psychiatrists who ultimately all declared him to be sane and rational. The former Ottawa landlord wanted his family to be present at his death and hired a lawyer to enter into discussions with police and inform them that although family members would be present, they would not be assisting Tremblay in any way. His proposed course of action was well thought out and all possible contingencies seemed to be taken care of.
On the last day of his life, Marcel Tremblay, accompanied by friends and family, had dinner at his favourite restaurant; somewhat marred by the fact that he was too ill to eat his chosen meal, a filet mignon. The group then went off to hold a "living wake" where those present joked, toasted Tremblay, and reminisced about his life. He then went home and after pausing at his door to give his final media interview, went inside. Wearing his favourite sweater and sitting in his favourite easy chair, Tremblay, in the presence of his family, put a helium-filled plastic bag over his head and died. The only glitch came when a pair of obviously ill-informed paramedics, entered Tremblay’s home and attempted to resuscitate him, but they were quickly set straight.
What appeared to have been glossed over in many of the media reports of what took place on the last day of Marcel Tremblay’s life was his reason for publicly doing what he did. Tremblay had been a long term member of Dying with Dignity and the whole purpose of his public suicide was to ignite the debate about assisted suicide. That aspect seemed to have been lost amongst the many details of restaurants, toasts, police and favourite sweaters.
For someone who took great pains to work everything out, down to the last detail, Tremblay could have picked a slower news day if he really had wanted to get his point across. His suicide occurred just two days before the election in Iraq; the one that we were constantly told would result in the bloodiest day in the history of the planet. With "insurgents" about to blow up a billion babies, how could people possibly be expected to be concerned about some old geezer in boring Kanata offing himself? In Canada, we were also being bombarded with the return of Parliament and the introduction of same sex marriage legislation as well as former PM Jean Chrétien’s nerve in suggesting that Paul Martin’s hand-picked Commissioner who is investigating "financial" improprieties while Martin was "Finance" Minister, might be a teeny-weeny bit biased. although it may be too early to tell, Tremblay’s actions do not appear to have ignited or re-ignited the debate on assisted suicide that he apparently had hoped for.
The theory is of course that if Tremblay could physically do what he did, then everyone who wants to die should have the right to have someone assist them if they are unable to take their own lives. The reality was that Tremblay’s last day on earth bore little resemblance to the last day of someone who physically (or mentally) is incapable of doing what he did. It is highly unlikely that they could grab a coat and go out in the cold for a "farewell dinner". The difference between Tremblay and someone who is seriously incapacitated was as different as night and day. It was obvious that Tremblay did exactly what he wanted to do. Looking at it in that way, many with no vested interest in the right to die movement will simply say to themselves that he seemed like a nice guy; too bad he had to die; time to move on.
If Tremblay’s death is to spark any debate, it should be over the amount of money that is spent on medical research into the prevention of pain. Marcel Tremblay spent a long time suffering from pain. He had been a member of a right to die organization for more than 20 years. Yet he waited until last week to finally take his own life. If medical science were able to reduce his pain to levels that he had previously been able to cope with, he would have been able to live until his life ended naturally. Despite his best efforts, his life and death hardly served as an example for suicide on demand.