We have all felt the heartache of watching a loved one suffer through illness or injury and wished we could take away their pain. It is this sentiment that draws people to the Medical Assistance in Dying program (MAID).
However, now that Canada has opened this pandora’s box, an increasing number of Canadians are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take action, as heartbreaking stories continue to come out across Canada exposing the unethical, irresponsible, and dangerous implications of Canada’s MAID program.
Stories such as 54-year-old Amir Farsound, who, facing an eight-year waitlist for assisted living in Ontario and not being able to afford rent, opted to apply for MAID instead of ending up homeless on the streets.
Similarly, last October, Canada’s Minister of Veterans Affairs, Laurence MacAulay, was called upon by the House of Commons to explain multiple cases of Canadian veterans being pushed towards the MAID program by government case workers. One of these deeply troubling cases included a veteran, who while seeking support for his neurological injuries, was reportedly told by a government case worker “If down the road you have suicidal thoughts, MAID is better than blowing your brains out against a wall”.
Trudeau’s response, however, has been to minimize the concerns and look to expand the program to include mental illness candidates which would put even more Canadian’s lives at risk. Despite the recent news of the expansion being pushed back to 2024, the intent of the Trudeau government remains the same.
The Canadian government has followed European countries with similar MAID programs to guide its implementation in Canada. However, in countries such as Belgium and The Netherlands, safeguards put in place to guide the program have been seen to be ineffective and flawed.
In Belgium, safeguards meant to ensure only voluntary participation in MAID were inadequate, according to a 2013 survey study conducted by a group of Belgian researchers. In fact, according to the study, 1.7% of the deaths occurring in the Flanders region of Belgium during 2013, occurred due to the illegal administration of fatal drugs without patient consent . In fact, in both the Netherlands and Belgium, a disproportionate number of elderly patients have reportedly died as a result of illegally administered procedures conducted by nurses, without the legally required presence of a doctor.
Perhaps most disturbing, however, is the evidence that MAID programs can act as a financial crutch for healthcare systems. Based on cases in Europe, many elderly people have been pushed towards MAID by medical personnel to relieve the financial burden on the healthcare system. In Canada, research suggest that MAID could decrease healthcare spending by nearly 140 million annually.
There are, of course, those such as the Canadian human-rights activist group Dying with Dignity, who defend the MAID program in Canada, seeing it as a progressive step in the countries health care system. These MAID supporters argue that the program promotes personal autonomy and that the existence of unbearable suffering justifies the right for people to want to ‘opt out’. However, despite these arguments in favor of the MAID program, the evidence clearly shows that safeguards put in place have been inadequate in ensuring safe, transparent, and ethical use of medical assisted death programs in many countries. The federal government must respond to this evidence, as well as the concerns of Canadians, to swiftly amend legislation to limit the scope of the program and keep it from acting as an unethical crutch for a failing medical system and lack of government funding.
However, instead of listening to the warnings of Canadians, like the family of Alan Nichols, who was admitted to the hospital with non-fatal conditions, yet within a month was dead, with the only reason cited on his MAID application being hearing loss, the Canadian government has announced the expansion of MAID to include mental illness patients. This despite the fact that the modern medical community still lacks the core understanding of the causes and physiology of many mental illnesses, creating concern regarding a doctor’s ability to determine the severity and irremediability of a patient’s suffering. This is supported by survey data in the Netherlands that shows roughly 20% of the time where a mental health patient sought MAID, the doctors disagreed on the severity and irreversibility of the patients suffering.
It should be highly concerning for Canadians, that if this expansion takes place, these patients whose suffering cannot be agreed upon by medical professionals will have access to MAID in Canada. Only adding to the concern, a study of M.A.I..D programs across the world showed that nearly 60% of medical professionals believed diagnosing their patients with severe depression would include the idea that the patient lacks an adequate decision-making capacity to make major medical procedural decisions.
Between the clinical data of MAID programs in Europe, the concerns raised by medical psychiatric experts, and the heartbreaking stories of real Canadians, the outrage and fear of many Canadians is clearly justified. The federal government must hear the concerns of Canadians and put their safety first by committing more money towards end-of-life care, as well as amending the MAID legislation to ensure proper safeguards are in place and that safety, ethics, and transparency remain the top priorities of the program.
Connor Lewis
Prince George
