Wider access to euthanasia will be catastrophic for people with disabilities.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Barbara Kay

An excellent article by Barbara Kay was published in the National Post today titled: Wider access to assisted dying in Canada will be catastrophic for the disabled. Kay is writing about Bill C-7, the bill to expand euthanasia in Canada, that will be voted-on in Canada's Senate next week.

Kay explains that Bill C-7 is the government's response to the Quebec Truchon court decision that struck down the requirement in the law that a person's death be reasonably foreseeable to qualify for euthanasia. She explains how Bill C-7 goes far beyond Truchon. She wrote:

For example, C-7 eliminates the 10-day reflection period, and reduces the need for two witnesses to one (who may be part of the caretaking process). C-7 would therefore open the door to MAiD on demand for people struggling with chronic physical or mental disability — a total of about six million Canadians, according to government stats.

This feature is viewed as particularly catastrophic by many disabled Canadians, as well it should be. The obvious message to the disabled is that our society puts a higher value on “dying with dignity” than living with dignity, even with greatly diminished independence.

David Shannon

Kay then tells the story of David Shannon:

David Shannon, who became quadriplegic following a spinal cord injury in a rugby scrum at age 18. Despite multiple surgeries and close brushes with death, he leads what he considers a full life. An Order of Ontario and Order of Canada recipient, Shannon obtained a law degree, and has acted as a Human Rights Commissioner. Shannon writes, “I’ve loved and been loved. My proudest accomplishment is that I lived.” He asks, “Why is there not the promotion to pursue one’s autonomy?”

Kay explains that without a viable alternative to euthanasia, one cannot say it is a free choice. She then tells us Roger Foley's story:

Roger Foley’s case, for example, continues to haunt me two years after I first wrote about him. Foley suffers from a neurodegenerative disease, cerebellar ataxia, that renders him unable to function independently. In his London hospital he has suffered food poisoning and substandard care serious enough to cause suicidal ideation. Foley has recorded being reminded that MAiD is an option. His only other choice is a forced discharge and dependence on contracted agencies that proved unreliable in the past. Foley wants a third option: “assisted life with self-directed funding,” which would cost 10-15 per cent of the daily $1,845 his London hospital charges him.

Why can’t he have that? It would allow him to live in the community with dignity, safety and continuity of care instead of in the soulless sterility of a hospital. Foley’s spirit and determination are indomitable, but one can see how easily others in his situation might request MAiD and, thanks to C-7, get it on the same day.

Roger Foley's experience then leads to Kay telling us about Archie Rolland:

In 2016, Quebecer Archie Rolland, who suffered from advanced ALS and required specialized care chose MAiD when he was transferred against his will, for cost-saving reasons, to a facility with inadequately trained staff whose incompetence made his life a “living hell.” In the end, Rolland said, “It’s not the ALS that’s killing me; it’s my fight for better care, for decent care.”

Dr Catherine Frazee

Kay quotes from Dr Catherine Frazee's comments to the Senate Committee concerning Archie Rolland and Sean Tagert:

Dr. Catherine Frazee gave heartbreaking testimony to the Senate hearings, citing Rolland’s case and that of Sean Tagert... Tagert considered his quality of life good. He had shared custody of his adolescent son, while an elaborate technological system gave his days purpose. Denied the two additional daily hours of home care he required, Tagert was transferred to an institution far from his son, without the sophisticated technology that added critical value to his existence. So no “viable alternative” for Tagert. Is it any wonder he then chose MAiD?

Kay quotes from Dr Paul Saba who identifies why people ask for euthanasia:

As anti-euthanasia physician Paul Saba writes in his eloquent new book, Made to Live, “The euthanasia and assisted suicide mindset has been marketed by attacking people’s failing courage and preying on their fear that they will end their lives as a worthless human burden or worse, alone.” Further, “It is irresponsible to promote the myth that euthanasia and assisted suicide are never the result of severe external pressures, and that they are pure rational choices freely arrived at by citizens of a civilized and caring country.”

Kay identifies why Jean Truchon, the plaintiff in the Quebec Truchon case that struck down the terminal illness requirement in the law. She wrote:

Quebec Justice Christine Baudouin approved the right to MAiD (which he got) of the cerebral-palsy afflicted Jean Truchon, because “He can no longer live on his own … He says he has been dead since 2012.” Why couldn’t he live on his own? He couldn’t afford to. In an August 2017 email to Jonathan Marchand, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and is “trapped in my long-term care facility,” but has long fought for the right of the disabled, including Jean Truchon, to live with adequate assistance at home, Truchon confided (my translation), “I want to thank you for your interest in my cause. In response to your question concerning home care, I think that actually if there were services of 70 hours and more, I would have preferred to stay at home and possibly I would not have had the same wish to die.”

Kay then concludes:

Two more care hours daily might have saved Sean Tagert’s and Jean Truchon’s lives. We should not be offering wider access to euthanasia until every Canadian that needs it has a truly viable option: access to excellent palliative care (only accessible to 30 per cent of us) or optimal life assistance for the disabled. But C-7 will, shamefully, make Canada one of the most MAiD-friendly countries in the world.

Sadly, Canada's Senate is now proposing to further expand Bill C-7 to include euthanasia for mental illness and for people who are incompetent but requested death in their power of attorney.