Sunday, February 2, 2020

Canada's Justice Minister says that euthanasia may be expanded to include people with mental illness.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Hon David Lametti
Justice Minister David Lametti told 
CBC Radio One's The House that based on the recent online euthanasia consultation questionnaire that Canadians want more access to (MAID) euthanasia.

Lametti told CBC radio One:
"There does seem to be a clear tendency that Canadians are largely in agreement that we ought to expand the possibility for medical assistance in dying beyond the end-of-life scenario," Lametti said. 
"Obviously there are some voices that don't agree. People living with disabilities can see this as a threat, even an existential threat, and we're trying to achieve the right balance there to not stigmatize people in that context."
The CBC Radio One report explained that the law may be expanded to include people with mental illness:
...Lametti said one possible result of making these changes to the law will be to extend MAID to people whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental disorder. 
That is certainly a possibility that's raised by this expansion," he said.
Last week I reported that Canada's online euthanasia consultation questionnaire was a sham and that its data was unreliable. It was a sham because some of the questions assumed that the participant supported euthanasia. The data was unreliable because the online questionnaire did not limit people to participating once. One person told me that they filled out the questionnaire more than 50 times from the same computer.
Article: Canadian (MAID) euthanasia online consultation was a sham and the data is unreliable (Link).
CBC Radio One then interviewed Jocelyn Downie, a long-time pro-euthanasia activist academic who explained that when the Québec court struck down the "terminal illness" requirement in the law, that this enabled access to euthanasia for mental conditions. CBC radio reported:
"When you remove 'reasonable foreseeability' from the Criminal Code, as the judge in Quebec did for Quebec, one of the things that happens is that more people with mental disorders as their sole underlying medical condition will now be eligible for MAID," said Downie, a Dalhousie University law professor who served on the Council of Canadian Academies expert panel that studied MAID.
Sadly, I agree with Downie, that when the Québec court struck down the terminal illness requirement in the law that this mean't that euthanasia would also permitted for psychological reasons or mental illness. 
Article: Québec court expands Canada's euthanasia law by striking down the "terminal illness" requirement (Link).
The law originally stated that euthanasia could be done based on physical or psychological suffering, but that a person's natural death must be reasonably foreseeable. By removing the reasonably foreseeable requirement from the law, then euthanasia decisions are then based on physical or psychological suffering alone.

11 comments:

Kathleen1031 said...

Yeah, it's a stigma alright when your government tries to figure out ways to get you to kill yourself. Canada seems to be in a race to the moral bottom. Is there anything Canada doesn't approve of, except God?
Canadians should remember that if you have seen a counselor for anxiety, have taken medications for depression, have taken a leave of absence from work to pull yourself together, that could be considered "mental illness". This may have a chilling effect on the willingness of people to seek help.
I live in the states, but from here it seems like Canada is circling the drain. Your political leaders have apparently never heard a crazy idea they can't warm up to.

Conway C-K said...

Even allowing for the fact that I already knew Canada's views this comes to me as a shock.

I'd say that stating that it is a crazy idea isn't putting it strongly enough!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Kathleen1031. Very true! I'm a Canadian born senior who because I received welfare at 58 having brainstem & neck vertebrae injuries causing constant pain required disability payment, without my knowledge & consent an HR administrator had a psychiatrist write a filthy libelous slanderous mental report about me hoping to get me to apply for my CPP early & thus cover their disability cost. I learned of this about 6 years later in a court trial proceeding after a "hit" was run on me driving Charter Bus of B.C. in 2000. The Judge would not allow me to correct the falsehood and the defense ran the trial on it. I now depend on living in gov't assistance housing where lies are constantly added. I had to go out of my area for 2 hip surgeries and be safe from liars/drug pushers. I cannot safely use pharmaceuticals. I've watched care home patients euthanized with tylenol! Gov't & courts here are taking away more rights to refuse life threatening medical actions even to our children. Canada is speedily becoming an extention of Hitler's Germany!

auntie jude said...

My Country is bound and determined to kill us all off to avoid a two tier system of seeking health. I agree with Kathleen: Canada seems to be in a race to the moral bottom.

Karen Dwyer said...

Kathleen, you've expressed my thoughts exactly. I'm writing from Australia, and it seems that whatever Canada does, Australia does next (particularly Victoria, and then the rest of the states). I'm sure you see the same things with particular states in the U.S. that seem very "pro-death", "pro-hedonism", "anti-Christian". It can't be otherwise, for Christianity is a celebration of God-given life.

Biologist Bob said...

1. Death is certain for everyone, and "reasonably forseeable".
2. Forgetting things is one symptom of mental deficiency, so Justin Trudeau's forgetting Lavelin details means he qualifies.
3. Extending MAID beyond death, foreseeable or not, means exhuming a lot of bodies.

Elaine Taylor said...

Well said, Kathleen. I might add to the list of ways to qualify i.e. to be among the vulnerable: applying for and receiving disability pension; suffering a traumatic brain injury, now in some provinces considered to be a mental illness; having a concussion with repercussions, and what about PTSD? Having seen the pressure on some parents to medicate a child with ADHD, Asperger's, or autism, I think those labels will become a heavy burden. Why don't we just call it what it is: Just plain Eugenics. The Barbarians have breached the walls and the Captives are showing signs of Stockholm Syndrome...

Christoph Dollis said...

Wonderful news. Everyone has the moral right to die at their choosing and should be able to do so in a comfortable and effective way.

Bob Wilkinson said...

I agree Kathleen.
The argument for MAID would clearly be compassion, yet this fails miserably in the light of the dangerous door being opened here. Where does this stop? Of course we will introduce safeguards, yet these safeguards can easily be removed or altered at any time deemed convenient by whatever power is in control at the time. Where does it stop?
We all agree that people sometimes face horrible choices, but when we open the door to killing those who have passed their "best before date," we all should be alarmed.
And behind it all, who is in favor of all this? Government, and their failing health care system. Of course they will encourage in any way they can this fabulous opportunity to save money and free up beds.
And what right does Government have to kill their own people? Many of us see life as a gift from God, not Government.
What was it we used to call this???? Oh yes, 'murder.'

John said...

Amazing news. Euthanasia should be legalized everywhere for the ones tired of life too. Not necessarily people with Illness or mental illness. I look forward for the day we don't have any more suicides and just show a bit of compassion for our fellow human beings just as we do for our beloved animals and pets.

Conway C-K said...

I don't agree with Unknown above. What is meant by "tired of life"? People may feel tired of life at some stage in their life but feel quite different later on.