Tag Archives: medical assistance in dying (MAiD) law

This Is Not A Road America Should Go Down

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On Thursday, The Catholic News Agency reported that Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) accounted for 1 in 20 deaths in Canada last year.

The article reports:

Government statistics indicated that 15,343 people were euthanized by medical officials in Canada in 2023, out of a total of just under 20,000 requests. Those numbers represent “an increase of 15.8%” over 2022, the report says, a drop from an average annual growth rate of about 31%.

Though the growth rate declined, it is “not yet possible to make reliable conclusions about whether or not these findings represent a stabilization of growth rates over the longer term,” the report said.

“An increased awareness of MAID within the care continuum, population aging, and the associated patterns of illness or disease, personal beliefs, and societal acceptance, as well as the availability of practitioners who provide MAID, may all influence the rate of provisions,” it noted.

The “vast majority” of euthanasia incidents detailed in the most recent report, about 95%, were administered to individuals classified as “Track 1,” whose natural death is “reasonably foreseeable” due to a medical condition.

More than half of those individuals were over 75 years old, with cancer as the “most frequently reported underlying medical condition.”

The article concludes:

Concerns have been raised recently that regulators are not effectively policing the country’s euthanasia program. A bombshell report in November alleged that out of hundreds of violations of the country’s controversial euthanasia law over the course of several years, none of them had been reported to law enforcement.

Activists, meanwhile, are pushing for the government to expand the law to cover individuals with mental illnesses. The government recently considered making that expansion itself, though early this year it paused the measure to allow the country’s health care system “more time” to prepare for it.

This is concerning. I understand that people suffering look for a way out, but the devaluing of life that is euthanasia cannot be ignored. This is a slippery slope that we do not want to go down. As of 2023, ten states in America allow assisted suicide, and a number of states are looking into making it legal.

Staying Alive In Canada

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On Saturday, The American Thinker posted an article about a change that Canada is recommending in its medical assistance in dying (MAiD) law. The panel involved is suggesting that mental illness be added to the list of things that make a person eligible for assisted suicide. I’m a little confused here–wasn’t there a time when we considered a person who committed suicide mentally ill? There seems to be some circular logic here.

The article includes a horror story of someone who was adversely impacted by the current rules regarding assisted suicide:

A 71-year-old widower was admitted to a Southwestern Ontario hospital after a fall. His family says during his admission he contracted an infectious diarrheal illness. He was humiliated by staff for the smell of his room, his family said. He developed a new shortness of breath that was not comprehensively assessed. In this context, a hospital team member suggested he would qualify for MAiD. The team said he had end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and it was terminal. The patient was surprised by the diagnosis but trusted the team. Within 48 hours of his first assessment, he received a medically assisted death. Post-mortem testing showed he did not have end-stage COPD. His family doctor, when notified of his death, also stated he did not have end-stage COPD, but the team had failed to contact her when they were assessing his history.

The article notes:

Nonetheless, the Great White North’s federal “expert” panel on MAiD has recommended mental illness be added to the list of maladies making one eligible for MAiD……apparently without any legislative changes. How nice, euthanasia by administrative fiat. What could go wrong?

To some degree, mental illness is in the eye of the beholder. It can be quite subjective and has historically been used as a tool to advance totalitarian political agendas. Hence, the gulags and “re-education camps.” Don’t believe in global warming? Are you an anti-vaxxer? Trump supporter?! Didn’t vote for Xi jinping Justin Trudeau? Driving an 18-wheeler in a “Freedom Convoy?” Then you are, sadly, mentally ill.

I don’t want to live in a country where doctors have the right to kill you if they decide you are going to die anyway. What is happening in Canada is not good news for America.