A close relative of mine is a surgeon -- not just a surgeon who aims to complete as many surgeries as possible in a day, leaving patient care to others, but a surgeon in a mission hospital in a remote region of Africa who does everything she can to save lives; who will sit by the bedside of a dying patient through the night to provide care and compassion; who will seek innovative ways of using what she can find in a country that doesn't have the medications and technologies available in Canada to perform procedures considered not possible; who finds herself at odds with healthcare professionals to whom time off or limiting hours of practice per day seem more important than the lives of patients; and who will be training third-world country doctors to be caring, compassionate surgeons. It saddens me to know that she will never be able to practice in Alberta if the Standards of Practice are amended as proposed, because she will never refer anyone to another physician if the intent of such a referral is to terminate a human life. Under the guise of providing "care", these amendments will result in the selection of physicians willing to terminate life rather than save it -- not the kind of physician to whom I want to entrust my life and health.