Executive Director
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Cynthia Mulligan and Meredith Bond reported for CityNews Toronto on October 14 that Amir Farsoud (54) who lives in St Catharines Ontario is applying for (MAiD) euthanasia because social supports are failing him and he thinks that he has no other choice.
According to the report Farsoud has constant pain from a back injury and he takes medication for depression and anxiety and his quality of life is awful but he is applying for euthanasia because of his fear of becoming homeless. The report states:
Cynthia Mulligan and Meredith Bond reported for CityNews Toronto on October 14 that Amir Farsoud (54) who lives in St Catharines Ontario is applying for (MAiD) euthanasia because social supports are failing him and he thinks that he has no other choice.
According to the report Farsoud has constant pain from a back injury and he takes medication for depression and anxiety and his quality of life is awful but he is applying for euthanasia because of his fear of becoming homeless. The report states:
But Farsoud said his quality of life is not the reason he is applying for MAiD. He applied because he is currently in danger of losing his housing and fears being homeless over dying. “It’s not my first choice.”When asked what he would decide if he had stable housing, Farsoud states:
Farsoud lives in a rooming house he shares with two other people, and it is currently up for sale. He is on social assistance and says he can’t find anywhere else to live that he can afford.
“I don’t want to die but I don’t want to be homeless more than I don’t want to die,” shared Farsoud.
“It would be on my radar because my physical condition is only going to get worse,” added Farsoud. “At that point, I would be probably availing myself of the option, but that would be presumably years down the road.”Mulligan and Bond report:
UN experts released a report in Jan of 2021 that said when “life-ending interventions are normalized for people who are not terminally ill or suffering at the end of their lives, such legislative provisions tend to rest on – or draw strength from – ableist assumptions about the inherent ‘quality of life’ or ‘worth’ of the life of a person with a disability.”Farsoud is one of many Canadians with disabilities who are seeking euthanasia based on a lack of medical treatment, poverty or based on a feeling that they have no choice.
In a letter sent directly to the Government of Canada ahead of the change in MAiD legislation, the UN said it was concerned with the expanded access, specifically citing concern with a circumstance like the one Farsoud faces.
“It is not beyond possibility that, if offered an expanded right as per Bill C-7, persons with disabilities may decide to end their lives because of broader social factors such as loneliness, social isolation and lack of access to quality social services,” read the note.
Links to more stories of the euthanasia experience in Canada:
- Veterans affairs worker advocates euthanasia for PTSD (Link).
- Manitoba woman died by euthanasia based on inadequate home care (Link).
- Quebec man seeks euthanasia based on changes to home care (Link).
- Alberta man requests euthanasia based on poverty (Link).
- Ontario man approved for euthanasia because he can't get medical treatment (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).
It is so distressing to hear of so many cases in Canada in which people seek MAiD because of poverty, loneliness, depression, fear of being homeless and inability to get safe housing. How does the Christian community respond to these "social" reasons for MAiD? What is our responsibility to attempt to alleviate the suffering that is driving people to ask their health care workers to kill them? It is appalling that they are successful in their requests for MAiD (talk about discrimination against the poor, those with disabilities and the sad and lonely!) but also sad that, in a country like ours, people "fall through the cracks" to such and extent that they feel driven to consider death! Just like Pregnancy Care Centers exist to help those struggling with a surprise pregnancies, do we have a responsibility to care for people - to take away their reason for wanting to die? Just a thought to get us thinking and talking about this crisis...
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