A tragic accident in northern Manitoba nearly two decades ago is figuring into the national debate around doctor-assisted suicide.
Steven Fletcher became a quadriplegic when his vehicle struck a large moose in the northern part of the province in 1996.
The experience changed him, but it did not ruin him. Nonetheless, Fletcher, now a Winnipeg MP, has become a vocal advocate for the right of competent adults to
die with the help of a
doctor.
Fletcher, 42, told the National Post in March that if doctor-assisted suicide were available to him when he lay in his hospital bed after his accident, he might have opted for it.
Fletcher told CBC.ca this week that he would tell his doctor to “walk away from the table” if he were to lose his cognitive ability, which he said is all he has left after his accident.
Fletcher, a Conservative, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004.
As the opposition health critic in 2005, Fletcher called for the end of the medicinal marijuana operation then hosted underground at the Trout Lake mine near Flin Flon.
