Take Off You Hoser!

Scene: A Hospital in Canada, eh?

Doctor: So I was thinkin’ eh? Your husband, he don’t look so good eh?
Wife: But Doctor, he just needs help! You can treat him. Anyway, I am his wife and I authorize the treatment.
Doctor: Oh, so sorry, eh? Actually, not your call. I think he is a goner, so we’re gonna stop feedin’ him eh.
Wife: You can’t do that! I am sure if we just take take care of him, he will recover!
Doctor: I suppose you’re a smart fellow, eh? You went to thirteen years of medical school didja? Like I said, I think he is a goner so that is the end of it.
Wife: How can you do this? I am his wife? How can you just decide if someone lives or dies? You can’t do this to him! You can’t do this to me!
Doctor: Let this cup pass from you, eh? Right. Not gonna happen eh? My will not yours. Here at Grace hospital, you have no say. Policy dictates that I have the final say. So…It might be time to say goodbye to your husband, you know, like say take off you hoser! Or something similar, eh?
Wife: You and this hospital are monsters!

This little play brought to you courtesy of the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons. They just issued guidelines to their doctors that says that doctors have the right – not patients or their families – to decide when life-sustaining treatment can be withdrawn. From Lifesite:

The ultimate decision, says Dr. Bill Pope, registrar of the College, lies with the physician, and there is no need to heed the wishes of patients or families. Doctors must “communicate” the decision with patients or their legal proxy “to make that situation more transparent,” Pope said. “Nonetheless, doctors are permitted to make that decision.”

That sucks, eh?