Judge: Nurse who killed 8, broke her trust by terminating life. What about euthanasia?

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Elizabeth Wettlaufer

Elizabeth Wettlaufer, the nurse who confessed to killing 8 people in Woodstock and London Ontario was sentenced to 25 years without eligibility for parole today.

According to Yahoo news, Justice Thomas stated during sentencing that:

"It is a complete betrayal of trust when a caregiver does not prolong life, but terminates it," 

"She was the shadow of death that passed over them on the night shift where she supervised."

I agree with Justice Thomas, but I wonder how Canadians are expected to interpret this statement now that Canada has legalized "MAID" euthanasia?

Considering the fact that Wettlaufer was not caught until she told a counselor what she had done. The oversight was so lax that she was able to kill 8 people without being caught. 

Canada's euthanasia law requires the doctor or the nurse practitioner who causes death by euthanasia send a report to the applicable authorities concerning the act. Since Canada is using a self-reporting system, is it not possible that doctors or nurse practitioners will either not report all of the deaths or hide the fact that some of the deaths were outside of the law?

A NEJM study on the practice of euthanasia in the Flanders region of Belgium found that in 2013 1.7% of all deaths (more than 1000 deaths) were assisted deaths without explicit request.

A Lancet study analyzing the Netherlands euthanasia experience found that there were 310 hastened deaths without explicit consent in 2010 in the Netherlands.

It is not safe to give physicians, or others, the right in law to cause the death of their patients.

When a nation legalizes euthanasia, it gives medical professionals, who were already willing to kill their patients the legal right to proceed.

1. Every Canadian Province must do an in-depth investigation into suspicious deaths at hospitals and care institutions or we will never know how many medical killings have happened in Canada.

2. Canadians must go past their fear of dying a bad death and realize that Canada's euthanasia law is fatally flawed. There is no effective oversight of the law while giving physicians and nurse practitioners the right in law to kill you.