The spectre of assisted suicide is leading ageing people to "fear an institution that should be the last thing they should ever fear - a hospital," Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith has said. "The strong feeling is, 'If I can't speak for myself, if I'm alone with no family members, are they going to kill me?'" said Archbishop Smith in a talk at Edmonton's Corpus Christi Church. It is a question that "flows naturally" from the January Supreme Court decision allowing doctor-assisted suicide under certain conditions, the archbishop said. "This decision turns inside out the relationship between patient and doctor, patient and hospital; it undermines the trust that must be there." A series of talks across the Edmonton Archdiocese has drawn large crowds and raised poignant questions on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The archbishop said the other "elephant in the room" is what the court decision has to say about family life. Earlier, in a session with a group of seniors, Archbishop Smith heard how the elderly are feeling pressure to not be a burden on their children and on society. "That's where the so-called right-to-die slips into a duty-to-die," he said. In jurisdictions where physician-assisted suicide has been legal for some time, people were asked why they would seek it; they answered with avoidance of pain and suffering near the bottom of the list of reasons, while not wanting to be a burden was at the top, said Archbishop Smith. "How does that even creep into people's heads?" he asked.