by Rhoda Wilson, Expose News:
On 29 November, the “assisted dying” bill will have its second reading in the UK House of Commons. The bill aims to legalise euthanasia.
In light of the upcoming parliamentary debate, Clare Will Harrison takes a look at Canada’s MAiD and reveals how assisted dying disproportionately affects low-income and disabled people.
She also discusses the susceptibility of euthanasia programmes to mission creep and how it is not possible for doctors to truly know whether a patient has the mental capacity to decide to end their life. Nor is it possible for doctors to know whether a patient has decided without coercion or duress.
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Canada’s Mission Creep
In Canada, medical assistance in dying (“MAiD”) became legal in June 2016 for people whose natural death was reasonably foreseeable. In March 2021, an amendment to the Criminal Code provisions on MAiD (Bill C-7) came into effect. The amendments removed the requirement for a person’s natural death to be reasonably foreseeable to access MAiD.
The press release announcing the Bill C-7 amendment included an eerie statement. It is a highlight from the ‘First Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada’.
“MAID deaths as a percentage of all deaths in Canada remains consistent with other international assisted-dying regimes,” the press release said.
What?! Are “the international assisted-dying regimes” agreeing on a target for euthanasia deaths?
The mission creep doesn’t stop with including people whose natural deaths are not “reasonably foreseeable,” in other words people who are not terminally ill.
In February 2024, legislation was passed to extend the temporary exclusion of those suffering from mental illness. The eligibility date for persons suffering solely from a mental illness to access MAiD is now 17 March 2027.
Temporary means that it will be legal at some point, even though mentally ill people may not have the ability to understand and appreciate information, weigh options or communicate their decisions when it comes to making complex decisions, such as whether to agree to a “medical professional” killing them instead of healing them. If someone is unable to make complex decisions, who will be deciding he/she should be MAiD’d “on his/her behalf”?
Perhaps 2027 is when “the international assisted-dying regimes” plan to increase the proportion of state-sanctioned euthanasia to all deaths. Or perhaps by 2027 it is expected all deaths will have increased so to maintain the target percentage, they need to expand the euthanasia programme to include more of the population.
When Choice Becomes Coercion: The Perils of Legalised Euthanasia (Part 2)
This is the second in a two-part series. You can read Part 1 HERE.
Medical assistance in dying (“MAiD”) was made legal in Canada in 2016. When introduced its scope was to allow any adult suffering from a ‘grievous and irremediable medical condition’ with only 6 months to live, to apply to have a doctor kill them. Note the similarity with the current UK Bill on the point in bold, but note below the expansion of MAiD in Canada – what I fear will happen in the UK if the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill comes into being as law.
In March 2024 the Canadian government sought to further extend MAiD to include those solely suffering from mental illness. This inclusion has been delayed until 2027, (thank god), and someone with an underlying medical condition of mental illness is not presently supposed to be able to apply for MAiD, unless they also have a “grievous and irremediable” physical health condition.
