‘Abandoning People’: Canada’s Broadening Euthanasia Law Dangerous for the Vulnerable.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Epoch Times published an investigative report on August 24, 2022 by Peter Wilson concerning Canada's broadening euthanasia law titled: Abandoning People. Wilson states:

Canada’s broadening medical assistance in dying (MAiD) law has already harmed the country’s most vulnerable and will continue to do so unless amended, say critics of the legislation.

Wilson spoke to several experts and begins his report with comments by myself. Wilson states:

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Canada, says there are many recent cases that showcase this point. He cites the case of a woman who says she was suffering from long COVID.

Alex Schadenberg

“Because she’s not able to work, she’s finding out that she can’t live in her home anymore. She can’t afford it. So she’s saying that if things don’t turn around for her soon, she’s applying for euthanasia,” says Schadenberg, author of the book “Exposing Vulnerable People to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.

Another case, he says, is a woman living with a chronic disability in Victoria, B.C., who turned to MAiD due to insufficient health care.

“She has been unable to get treatment for her symptoms. So she’s been trying to go to the U.S. for treatment, but she doesn’t have enough money for that. But she’s been approved for euthanasia,” he said.

Wilson reports on the original Canadian law and explains that the law was amended by Bill C-7 in March 2021. He writes:

In 2021, the federal government passed Bill C-7, which amended the law to remove the requirement that patients have a fatal or terminal condition to be eligible.

In March 2023, patients whose only serious medical condition is a mental illness will also be eligible for MAiD.

Dr Ramona Coelho

Wilson interviewed Dr Ramona Coelho a family physician who works with many people with disabilities. Wilson reports:

Coelho told The Epoch Times about 71-year-old Ernest McNeill, who was admitted to a hospital after a fall. He was isolated from his family for a long time due to COVID-19 restrictions and contracted an infectious diarrheal illness while in hospital.

“The staff made very inappropriate comments about him,” said Coehlo, adding that McNeill “felt quite sad about it and he was in a lot of pain.”

“Someone on the [hospital] team raised the idea [of] medical assistance in dying [and] that he would qualify and told him all about it,” she said.

The health-care staff quickly diagnosed McNeill with a severe case of bronchitis, called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which Coehlo said McNeill didn’t know he had.

“But he trusted them,” Coehlo said. “So he basically accepted his death based on a diagnosis of COPD when he was acutely sick and feeling terrible.”

When presenting to the House of Commons Special Joint Committee on MAiD last May,  Coehlo stated:

“Was MAiD raised because his admission was longer than expected as a result of his being a victim of ageism?” asked Coelho. “Did he choose MAiD because his acute care team made him feel horrible? His family believes so.”

The London Free Press published an article by Coelho in July explaining why Canada's euthanasia law is the most permissive in the world.

Wilson then writes about our discussion about Roger Foley, a man who was urged by medical staff to consider euthanasia. Wilson reports:

Schadenberg raised the story of Roger Foley, a London, Ont., man who in his early 40s was offered MAiD by hospital staff without having requested it and was even told he would pay extraordinary hospital fees if he continued his long hospital stay.

Roger Foley

Wilson further reports on Foley's experience:

Foley, who suffered from an incurable brain disorder that practically paralyzed him, recorded audio clips of health-care workers at the hospital offering him MAiD and released them to CTV News in 2018.

“How are you feeling, Rog? Are you feeling like you want to harm yourself or anything like that?” asked one worker at the London Health Sciences Centre. “You can just apply to get assisted—if you want to end your life.”

Another worker told Foley it would cost him “north of $1,500 a day” to remain in hospital.

Foley refused MAiD and was eventually granted his original wish to receive home care. But Schadenberg said Foley’s story is just another example of MAiD causing health-care workers to “abandon” their patients.

Wilson then reports on the military veteran who is living with PTSD who was told he should consider MAiD. Wilson wrote:

The anonymous veteran told Global News that the recommendation was completely unprompted and that he “felt betrayed and disgusted by the suggestion.”

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said the incident goes to show the inevitable consequences resulting from Canada’s MAiD law.

“This is for all the politicians who said the lack of safeguards wasn’t an issue,” Genuis said on Twitter. “You were warned. Repeatedly.”

Conservative MP Michael Cooper called it “yet another instance of abuse under the Liberals MAID regime,” adding that “vulnerable Canadians are being put at risk.”

The euthanasia lobby group, Dying With Dignity didn't acknowledge that people are being coerced to die and Health Canada told Wilson that:

Canada has “a high bar for accessing MAID” through “eligibility criteria” and “safeguards” set forth in the law.

Wilson then points out the massive growth in the number of euthanasia deaths in Canada. He wrote:

Canada’s assisted suicide rates have been steadily rising since legalization. Health Canada’s “Third Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada,” from 2021, showed that 10,064 instances of MAiD were provided that year, an increase of 32.4 percent compared to 2020.

The 10,064 MAiD deaths in 2021 accounted for 3.3 percent of all deaths in Canada that year.

Wilson ends the article with his interview with me. Wilson wrote:

“The rise is continuing, whether it continues at that rate or it slows down,” said Schadenberg. “The fact of it is, MAiD is already the sixth-leading cause of death in Canada,” Schadenberg said. “And so will it go much higher than that?

Links to more stories of the euthanasia abuse in Canada:

• Veterans affairs worker advocates euthanasia for PTSD (Link).
• Shopping for doctor death in Canada (Link).
• Gwen is seeking euthanasia because she can't access medical treatment (Link).
• Euthanasia for disability and poverty (Link).
• Euthanasia for Long Covid and poverty (Link).
• Canada's MAiD law is the most permissive in the world. (Link).