MAiD Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

There is an endlessly repeated witticism by the poet Anatole France that ‘the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.’ What France certainly did not foresee is that an entire country – and an ostentatiously progressive one at that – has decided to take his sarcasm at face value and to its natural conclusion.

Since last year, Canadian law, in all its majesty, has allowed both the rich as well as the poor to kill themselves if they are too poor to continue living with dignity. In fact, the ever-generous Canadian state will even pay for their deaths. What it will not do is spend money to allow them to live instead of killing themselves.

h/t NP

Police in Abbotsford, B.C. confirm they are investigating the medically-assisted death of a 61-year-old woman whose daughters say should not have been approved for the procedure based on the state of her mental health at the time.

The case involves Donna Duncan, a nurse and mother who died on Oct. 29, 2021. It appears to be among the first assisted-death cases being reviewed by a police unit in Canada, although federal officials don’t keep statistics on when such cases are reported to police.

A 51-year-old Ontario woman with severe sensitivities to chemicals chose medically-assisted death after her desperate search for affordable housing free of cigarette smoke and chemical cleaners failed, advocates say.

The woman’s assisted death appears to be a first in the world for someone diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), a chronic condition also referred to as an environmental illness or environmental allergies, say patient support groups and doctors familiar with her case.

… Environmental allergies are a condition clouded by controversy and disbelief, even in the medical community. MCS can occur either through a single exposure to high levels of chemicals or constant low-level proximity to them. Some people become hypersensitive to common chemicals used in perfumes, cleaners, pesticides and smokes.

Most people who seek a doctor’s help to die are already dying of cancer.

With terminal cancer, “there is something inside the body that can be seen,” says Dutch psychiatrist Dr. Sisco van Veen, tumours and tissues that can be measured or scanned or punctured, to identify the cells inside and help guide prognosis.

Slippery slopes? Never!

He left soon after breakfast on a July morning. The 26th was warm, with a few clouds drifting high. Alan Nichols, gaunt and bearded, wore a green hospital gown. His sister-in-law, Trish, remembers sun glinting off the room’s yellow walls. Through the billowing white curtains, they could see three storeys down to the parking lot of the Chilliwack General Hospital.

Alan was livid that morning in 2019, recalls his brother, Gary. He was yelling at the doctor, “This is my moment! If you can’t do it here, then get me to someplace that can!” Later, gesturing to Gary and Trish, he blew up again, shouting, “We’re not even the same blood!”

Earlier this year, the federal government expanded physician-assisted death laws to apply to people with chronic medical problems even if they have years or decades to live. Unbeknownst to many, it also set up a process that will almost certainly result in death becoming available, in the near future, as an intervention for chronic mental illnesses. This is destined to create a massive legal quagmire, which, unfortunately, hasn’t got the attention it deserves. Importantly, these are not issues that the government’s forthcoming recommendations, set to be released by this coming March, will be able to resolve.

Triggered by grim experience my personal view on euthanasia for the terminally ill is evolving. It may be the most merciful of acts in some circumstances but always the choice must be left to the afflicted.

DIY suicide devices show just how far the misguided quest for individual autonomy will go

You can 3D-print your own suicide pod now. No doctor’s note required. And it’s legal in Switzerland. One woman featured in the official announcement video called the pod “utopian.”

According to one of the numerous news pieces covering Sarco (as the device is known), those who die by this and similar means are “cared for,” not “killed.” And yet that same article included the phone number of a suicide hotline along with a disclaimer: “If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help.”

Recently released statistics and anecdotal accounts have caused anti-euthanasia activists increased concern, as they believe medically assisted death is not only permitted, but encouraged.

Medically assisted deaths in Quebec rose to 2,426 in the year ending March 31, an increase of 37 percent over the year before, and represented 3.3 percent of all deaths. The statistics were made public by the province’s commission on end-of-life care, which submitted its report to the Quebec parliament on Oct. 20.

Wim van Dijk says he wants to fuel debate on assisted dying and does not care about possible jail term

A Dutch psychologist has told an interviewer from a newspaper that he gave “suicide powder” to more than 100 people and that he was speaking out in an effort to provoke debate about the Netherlands’ laws on assisted dying.

Wim van Dijk, 78, said he was unconcerned that he could be jailed over his actions and insisted that the issue needed to be aired.

“I am aware of the consequences of my story. I don’t care,” he told De Volkskrant. “I want the social unrest to become so great that the judiciary cannot ignore it. I don’t really care if they arrest me or put me in jail. I want something to happen.”