November 20, 2017
In Canada, where medical assistance in dying has been authorized since June 2016, secobarbital, the most widely used remedy in the world, is available. It would allow the patient to choose for himself when he wishes to end his life and reduce the expectation of death.
Secobarbital allows you to control your last moments of life
Canadians who want medical assistance in dying will now be able to choose to take the cocktail of drugs themselves that will end their life. Indeed, secobarbital, the most widely used remedy for medical assistance in dying elsewhere in the world, is available. The latter would be the best option for people who want to end their life and control their last moments of life.
Secobarbital would be the medicine that would work the fastestt. He reduce the wait before death. Medical assistance in dying was legalized in June 2016 in Canada. According to Health Canada, 1982 Canadians received this support between June 2016 and June 2017. And among them, the federal institution specifies that only five patients committed suicide themselves.
Secobarbital is more soluble, so it can be taken whole more easily
Medicines to be taken by mouth taste bad and may cause nausea or even put the patient to sleep before the full dose has been taken, doctors say. Their effectiveness would therefore be reduced. Secobarbital is more soluble than other barbiturates. It can thus be dissolves in a smaller amount of liquid, reducing the risk that the patient will not take the full dose. This drug could be useful in rural areas where doctors are sometimes absent.
As a reminder, the Canada in 2016 became one of the few countries where doctors are legally allowed to help some of their patients die. Without going as far aseuthanasia as in the Netherlands, Belgium or Luxembourg and refusing to speak as in Switzerland of medically assisted suicide, Canada therefore opens up the possibility for adults to ask for an end to their suffering.
Marie-Eve Wilson-Jamin
To read also: Euthanasia and assisted suicide: to allow or not?