Canadian media campaigns for more euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Recently, Canadians have once again been inundated with articles concerning euthanasia. I am convinced that the media is pressuring physicians to join the "list" of those who are willing to kill their patients and the media is campaigning against the "safeguards" in the law to increase access to death by lethal injection.

Thank you Dr Ramona Coelho, Dr Mark D'Souza and the many caring physicians and nurse practitioners who continue to oppose killing patients or directly referring patients to death.

Dr Ramona Coelho

In an article published today by CBC London Dr Coelho says that she is being pressured to be involved with euthanasia.

One year after medically assisted death was made law in Canada, a London physician is adamant the rules are putting undue pressure on physicians who don't want to refer patients for the procedure.

A recent Globe and Mail article quotes Dr Mark D'Souza, who stopped his palliative care practice because the euthanasia law put him at direct risk of losing his medical license because he opposes euthanasia:

“If [patients] complain that I’m not the one picking up the phone [to do the referral], my licence would be in jeopardy,” he said. “That’s not a scenario I want to expose myself to, and that’s why I left palliative care.”

The media is campaigning for more euthanasia.

The Globe and Mail published an article on July 3 about a doctor who has lethally injected 20 people in British Columbia who decided to stop doing euthanasia because the BC government isn't paying him enough money to kill.

An article published by CBC London, promotes Dr Scott Anderson, who is one of two doctors in London Ontario who is willing to kill patients. This article appears to encourage other physicians to participate in euthanasia and to inform local physicians to refer their patients for lethal injection to Dr Anderson.

Dr Anderson offers some interesting quotes in the article:

"When somebody is asking for your help to die, I don't see how the answer can be no." 

In another instance, the patient wanted a medically assisted death but his family was against it. With his main responsibility to the patient, Anderson performed the procedure while the family was away from the residence.

If Dr Anderson is visiting your depressed family member or friend, don't leave them alone.

The Globe and Mail published an article on July 5 which also appears to be campaigning for more physicians to kill and for more resources for euthanasia. The article claims that there are only a few doctors who are willing to kill people in Ontario.

Only 74 doctors and nurse practitioners have signed up for the new care co-ordination service, down from 181 when the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care shut down its old confidential referral list of medical-aid-in-dying (MAID) providers on May 31.

The also publishes a quote from Chantal Perrot, a doctor who has participated in 20 euthanasia deaths but who is not on the referral list.

The Globe and Mail article concludes by stating that there have been 548 euthanasia deaths in Ontario since June 17, 2016 when euthanasia became legal in Canada. A CBC article published in April stated that on March 31, there had been 365 euthanasia deaths in Ontario. Therefore there has been 183 euthanasia deaths in the last two months in Ontario. 

There are not too few euthanasia deaths, but rather too many. 

Sadly, the number of euthanasia deaths in Canada far exceeds the original predictions. Canada is becoming the example to America of why euthanasia should never be legalized.