The anti-life organization, Dying with Dignity, was the driving force behind the Supreme Court of Canada decision to allow physician-assisted suicide.  The procedure is now euphemistically called, ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ (MAID), which attempts to whitewash the horrifying fact that physicians in Canada may now legally kill their patients. This is a grievous departure from the Hippocratic Oath, which has guided physicians for centuries to “do no harm”. Dying with Dignity, aided by sympathetic, woke media, achieved this legislative goal by distorting the truth about what happens during the deadly procedure.

The first myth put forward by the advocates for euthanasia was that euthanasia would be rarely used, and only as a last resort. A review of Canadian statistics quickly refutes this claim.

In June 2021, Health Canada reported that there were 7,595 deaths by MAID in 2020, accounting for 2.5% of the deaths in Canada.  This represented a growth rate of 34.2%, compared to 2019.  The total number of medically assisted deaths since the enactment of the federal legislation in 2016 is 21,589.

In the province of Quebec alone, according to Quebec’s Commission ‘End-of-Life-Care’, between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, there were 2,426 euthanasia deaths, up by 37% over the previous year, representing 3.3% of all deaths in Quebec.

MAID is a Masquerade

MAID masquerades as medical treatment, supposedly provided by trusted doctors acting ethically in the best interests of their patients.  This pretense has resulted in the normalizing of euthanasia, whereby some physicians do not even bother to consider alternative options for the patients.

Slippery Slope

Advocates for euthanasia have consistently denied that there is a slippery slope inherent in all euthanasia legislation.  In every country that has brought in such legislation, there has been a rapid increase, in a very short time, of deaths by euthanasia. This is because once the line is crossed that allows the right to kill another human being and is an accessible right, this results in a rapid abandonment of safeguards that were initially put in place to protect the public.

For example, in March 2021, Canada removed the safeguard that restricted euthanasia to only those whose death was “reasonably foreseeable”.  This has resulted in euthanasia being available to anyone who is experiencing “intolerable suffering” (which can mean anything). The amendment also further expanded the legislation to allow anyone experiencing mental illness to be euthanized, including those with schizophrenia, dementia, or deep depression, who cannot provide consent.

In addition, the Canadian Parliament is currently considering legislation to further amend the law to allow people with early dementia to provide an “advance directive” to obtain euthanasia should they later become mentally incompetent. The government is also considering whether children should have access to euthanasia.

False Arguments

The arguments from advocates of euthanasia are a façade to pretend it is for the patient’s autonomy (self-determination) and empowerment.  However, it is the physician who has the “autonomy” and controls the death.  He ultimately decides whether to provide or deny the procedure. Further, the patient’s so-called autonomous decision is often based on his/her feelings of hopelessness, despair and alienation.  It may also be based on factors such as pressure from the family, who may stand to gain practically or emotionally by a patient’s death.  Further, a request for death may be, in truth, a request for reassurance that the physician, or others around, still value his/her dignity and life. In short, the patient may not always view death by euthanasia rationally.

Euthanasia is Frequently not an Easy Death

Advocates present euthanasia as quick, dignified and easy. However, although assisted suicide death may be speedy, this does not always occur, nor is it always painless and/or dignified.

Because of problems achieving an efficient death, experiments have been carried out with lethal drugs, without success, to try to make deaths quicker, less painful and less risky. Inadequacy in achieving death easily has also led advocates to push for other methods of causing death, such as allowing the patient to die of starvation and dehydration (lack of water). This process leads to a horrific death, painful and difficult, which should not occur in a humane society.

Further efforts to facilitate death have led to the development of a suicide pod developed by Australian doctor Phillip Nitschke, known as “Dr. Death”. This pod, called “sarco”, is a chamber that is a glorified transportable gas chamber. According to Dr. Nitschke, “The benefit for the person who uses it is that they don’t have to get any permission, they don’t need some special doctor to try and get a needle in, and they don’t need to get drugs difficult to obtain.” The patient just steps inside and presses the button.  The pod doubles as a bio-degradable coffin.  This product is to be introduced in Switzerland in 2022.

Euthanasia advocates’ reckless desire for death has also had another tragic side effect – marginalizing palliative care.

Palliative Care

Palliative Care provides positive, holistic care for patients, including emotional, physical, and spiritual support during the last stages of life. It allows the patient to die naturally, with dignity and compassion, which gives meaning to the patient’s life and death.

The presence of MAID has complicated the efforts of palliative care physicians, since physicians supporting MAID insist that the patient remain lucid to provide a valid consent so as to not jeopardize the legitimacy of MAID.  This requires withholding sedation which causes the patient much distress.

MAID and palliative care also compete for funding and resources. Good palliative care takes time and interdisciplinary resources, whereas MAID kills the patient, frees a bed, and is a cost effective solution to the overwhelmed health care system.  Consequently, it is prioritized in the health care system.

Palliative Care’s Disadvantage

Palliative care has also been put at a huge disadvantage in comparison to MAID.  MAID  has been positioned as a “right” under the Canada Health Act, so that it must be publicly funded and accessible to all Canadians.  Palliative care is not provided with the same status as there is no legal requirement that it be funded and accessible as a “right”.  Consequently, many dying patients (98% of whom die natural deaths) do not receive a genuine option of end of life care.

Canada is failing its citizens at this sensitive time in their life’s journey.