My key reasons for opposing assisted dying (euthanasia and assisted suicide)

Gordon Friesen

By Gordon Friesen
President of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

There are many reasons to oppose the legalization of assisted death. However, most of the ones we hear most frequently are not actually calls for the rejection of assisted death as such. They are concerned with more limited goals, associated with the interests of particular groups.

In this list, we can place the demand for doctors' conscience rights, the demand for greater Palliative Care access, and the disabled demand for greater social support. All of these are worthy goals, but they do not actually call for a prohibition of assisted death.

I therefore thought it would be useful to share my own key reasons for prohibiting (not merely palliating) the practices of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Key Reason # 1:

It is much better for modern society to continue in the principle that all killing is wrong, than to return to pre-modern debates over which killings are permissible.

Throughout the pre-civilized history of the human race, the biggest guy in the tent did pretty much whatever he liked in satisfaction of his own subjective passions, up to and including taking the lives of others, for any reason or for no reason. Lessor males would kill one another for disputes involving females, or in their constant micro-political struggles for dominance. High status females, for their part, would plot to kill the children of rivals (and even the rivals themselves), or conspire with ambitious males in plots to overthrow their husbands and fathers.

As civilization developed, this sort of violence became codified in law, condemning offences and affirming rights. The Roman Pater, to be precise, originally enjoyed a personal power of life and death over everybody living under his roof, wives, children and slaves. Nor was this a Roman aberration. Most "civilized" societies had similar rules.

One may easily understand why a general prohibition against killing, might have been considered (by philosophers) as a major moral and social achievement in the evolution of our race. In truth, it was rightly considered the greatest social goal of all. Yet the amazing fact is that just such a prohibition did indeed succeed in affirming itself, gradually gaining strength over multiple centuries and millennia.

Most amazingly of all, we had very recently come to a point where this prohibition against homicide became very nearly universal. No open murder by Master of servant. No permitted crimes of passion (adultery). No single combat (duels). Indeed many countries had even eliminated capital punishment as the very last instance of permissible homicide. (Self-defence being a disputed zone, where those attached to doctrines of non-resistance still believe that society has fallen short).

For a brief span, we have benefited from a legal context in which self-interested actors might no longer argue for the legitimacy of different acts of homicide, using all of the arts of persuasion and deceit which distinguish the human genius of litigation. For a brief span, all such convoluted and interested attempts were rejected out of hand.

Does it matter where that prohibition comes from? Whether it is Divine decree (as many firmly believe it is) or simply a rational response to tens of thousands of years of lucid intuition in the minds of self-aware persons attempting consciously to distance their own lives from that of the beasts? Is it greater or lessor --as a practical fact-- in one case or the other? Should we not (regardless of historical context), recognize the monumental effort and sacrifice committed by our ancestors to maintain and protect this priceless jewel of human attainment (and to do so in our turn)?

Let us consider...

Our adversaries would have us believe --far beyond a simple neutrality with regards to suicide-- that the act of assistance to suicide is so overwhelmingly desirable in our society that we should accept the first actual reversal of the non-killing principle ever registered, in order to permit its accomplishment.

This proposition is so outrageous, that few people have attempted to support it. And how could they? It is impossible that the substitution of an immediate death for a minimally extended dying period might be so valuable, in and of itself, as to justify the social chaos implicit in a reversal of our core moral and judicial assumptions.

As a result, most promoters of assisted death are simply unwilling to "go there". Which is to say, they will not argue the question within the bounds of an assumed prohibition of homicide (even though their legal remedies are invariably proposed in the form of exceptions to that prohibition). On the contrary, they presume to reject the legitimacy of the prohibition outright, on the simple basis that its historical context has been one of religious dogma.

Nothing, I submit, could be more obtuse. For the underlying suggestion is that no moral conclusions from the human past might possibly be useful, since the entirety of those conclusions had been conceived and understood in religious terms, during all of that time.

Forgive me if I reject that notion as too frivolous for serious consideration.

If one is to maintain that assistance to suicide must be permitted, then it is necessary to demonstrate not only that certain suicides "might" be beneficial, or that the subjective desire of the subject "should" be respected. It need also be demonstrated that such a permission is valuable enough to justify the loss, in social coherence, which would be suffered through the implied rejection of the categorical prohibition of homicide.

Disparaging ideas and people under the supposedly insulting title "religious" will not suffice. It would rather be necessary to attack that prohibition pragmatically, as I have defended it here, without any reference to religion at all.

To be coninued...

Gordon Friesen
President, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition July 26, 2024

Canadian doctors accused of pushing medically assisted death.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Heather Hancock

Michael Kaplan wrote an investigative report that was published by the New York Post on July 25, 2024 on how Canadians with disabilities are feeling pressured to "choose" euthanasia (MAiD). Kaplan interviews Heather Hancock, Roger Foley and myself, as well as euthanasia lobby leaders.

Heather Hancock was urged to "choose" euthanasia while she was receiving medical treatment in Alberta a few years ago. Kaplan interviewed Hancock and reports:

Recalling a rough morning while being treated at a hospital in Alberta, Canada, Hancock told The Post, "I wasn’t moving very well and the nurse on my ward looked at me and said, ‘You really should consider MAID. You’re not living. You’re just existing.’"

Hancock remembers being in shock over what she interpreted as a suggestion she should opt for death, rather than wasting Canada’s publicly funded healthcare system by staying alive. 

“I thought I misheard her; then the words settled into my being as she waited for an answer,” said Hancock. “I asked her, ‘Who gives you the right to judge what’s living and what’s existing?'”

According to Hancock, the nurse responded, “Now you’re just being selfish.”

“God put me into this world and he’s the only one taking me out,”Hancock added, “I told the nurse that my life is no less valuable than any other life.

“She just laughed in a mocking way and walked out of the room. I had that nurse removed from my care. I did not want to be anywhere near her.”

The nurse’s attitude is consistent with others Hancock says she has encountered. 

Hancock told Kaplan that:

We require more healthcare dollars than able-bodied people and often do not get the same level of service; some doctors don’t even bother trying,” said Hancock, explaining that MAID frequently gets presented as “a good solution to your situation.”

“They make you feel like you are less than human … like you have nothing to offer the world. Doctors couch it as ending people’s suffering when really they are killing you,” she added. 

Alex Schadenberg

Kaplan also interviewed me (Alex Schadenberg):

Opponents of MAID claim that those who advocate for the doctor-assisted suicide can be heavy handed to a damaging degree when suggesting it as an option.

“When you’re going through a difficult time and someone is telling you, ‘Oh, if I was in your situation, I would opt for MAID,’ well, that is not a helpful thing,” Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told The Post.

“Nearly every major hospital in Canada has a MAID team. These teams are each comprised of a couple doctors and a couple nurses who go throughout the hospital, making sure MAID is offered and available to people who want it. But they’re not just providing access to euthanasia, they are selling it.”

Kaplan asked for an example of "selling" euthanasia:

Schadenberg recalled a situation in Ottawa:“I received a call from a man who was visiting his father there. The MAID team came in, asked the father, who was suffering from a deadly condition, if he would like MAID. The dad said no.” 

But that was not the end of it. “When the family members went downstairs for coffees, the MAID team came back and asked the patient again. They thought he was saying no only because the family members were there.

“It’s not a point of suggestion when you continually harass people with this concept of MAID. The family was ticked off.”

Roger Foley

Kaplan interviewed Roger Foley who lives with cerebral ataxia.

“I’ve been pressured to do an assisted suicide,” he had told The Post, alleging this happened with caretakers at Victoria Hospital, a primarily government-funded facility in London, Ontario.

“They asked if I wanted an assisted death. I don’t. I was told that I would be charged $1,800 per day [for hospital care]. Nurses here told me that I should end my life. That shocked me.”

That conversation took place two years ago, at which point Foley was $2m in debt. According to Schadenberg, “His current situation is unchanged.”

Kaplan ends the article by providing more information about Roger Foley:

In a recent video, conducted by Amanda Achtman of the Dying to Meet You Project, Foley recalled being offered euthanasia “multiple times.”

In terms of the impact of the suggestion, he said, “It’s completely traumatized me. It’s an overlying option. When I say I am suicidal, I am met with, ‘Well, the hospital has a program to help you with that if you want to end your life.’

“There is not going to be a second within the rest of my life when I will not have flashbacks to it, to the devaluing of me and all that I am … I don’t want to give up my life.”

More information on this topic:

• Heather's story of being pressured to "choose" MAiD (Link). 
• Roger Foley: A passion to live (Link).
• Canadian woman pressured to "choose" euthanasia was told that she was selfish for living (Link).

The American experience with assisted suicide confirms a slippery slope.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Public Discourse published an excellent article by Richard Doerflinger, whereby Doerflinger explains to jurisdictions, such as Great Britain, that the assisted suicide slippery slope in America is disturbingly genuine. Doerflinger, who has researched the issue of assisted suicide for many years is challenging an Economist editorial supporting assisted suicide. Doerflinger writes:

Permitting assisted suicide for terminally ill patients has been debated for many years in Great Britain, as in the U.S. and other countries. The Parliament has never approved such a law, but proponents think this year may give them a victory.

The respected London-based periodical The Economist, which has supported the idea since 2015, recently weighed in with an editorial that offers a convenient overview of the campaign for what the editors call “assisted dying.” While dismissing the idea of a “slippery slope” toward broader killing, their own arguments illustrate that slope.

Doerflinger states the argument made by the Economist supporting assisted suicide:

They begin with a broad claim that Britons “should have the right to choose the manner and timing of their death.” On its face, this is an argument for a “right” to suicide for everyone. The article ends with a call for a right held by all “adults of sound mind who are enduring unbearable suffering with no prospect of recovery,” noting that many people “suffer terribly with a disease that is not terminal.” Suffering, of course, is also not restricted to people with an illness.

The editorial’s insistence that people have a right to “take matters into their own hands” also misstates the issue. This is not about legalizing efforts to cause one’s own death, which have long been seen as meriting counseling and treatment rather than punishment. It is about some people—especially members of what some of us still call “the healing professions”—helping to cause the death of other people.

California 2023 report indicates that there were 884 reported assisted suicide deaths.

I predict that approximately 925 Californians actually died by assisted suicide in 2023.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The 2023 California assisted suicide report was recently released indicating that there were 884 reported assisted suicide deaths in 2023 and 4287 reported assisted suicide deaths since legalization in 2016.

As with previous years, the report implies that the deaths were voluntary (self-administered) but the information in the report does not address that subject.

California does not report assisted suicide death complications. This is important since the 2023 Oregon assisted suicide report indicated that there was almost a 10% complication rate.

The 2022 California assisted suicide report stated that there were 853 reported assisted suicide deaths. The 2023 report corrected the 2022 data and states that there were 890 reported assisted suicide deaths in 2022. That a difference of 37 reported deaths.

In 2022 I pointed out that there were 294 Californians, who were approved for assisted suicide but their ingestion status was unknown. These people had received the lethal poison but the authorities did not know if they had died by assisted suicide, died by a natural death, or remained alive. 

Based on the 2023 report, we now know that at least 37 of the 294 (ingestion status unknown) died by assisted suicide in 2022 and 49 of the 294 died by assisted suicide in 2023. Of the remaining 208 people, whose ingestion status was unknown in 2022 it is likely that some of them died by assisted suicide but the death was not reported.

The 2023 report indicates that there are 276 Californians who received the lethal poison but whose ingestion status was unknown. Based on the yearly data we know that some of the 276 people have died by assisted suicide but the assisted suicide report was submitted late and some of them will die by assisted suicide in 2024. 

Based on the percentage of assisted suicide reports that were submitted late in previous years, it is likely that the 2024 report will indicate that approximately 925 Californians reportedly died by assisted suicide in 2023.

As stated earlier, it is likely that some of the 276 Californians who received the lethal poison but whose ingestion status is unknown are unreported assisted suicide deaths.

California uses a self-reporting system, meaning that it is impossible to know that a person died by assisted suicide when the medical professional fails to submit the assisted suicide report.

Who dies by assisted suicide?

The 2023 California assisted suicide report states that since legalization 87.6% of the reported assisted suicide deaths were White, 6.4% were Asian, 3.8% were Hispanic and less than 1% were black.

California's population data indicates that: 40% are Hispanic, 35% are White, 15% are Asian and .5% are Black. Clearly assisted suicide is an issue of white privilege.

The data suggests that the number of assisted suicide deaths in 2023 remained steady. Considering the massive growth in assisted suicide deaths from 2021 (523) to 2022 (890) the slower growth may be temporary. Nonetheless, as in previous years, when the law is being challenged the number of deaths moderates. 

In April 2023, The United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet, Institute for Patients’ Rights, Communities Actively Living Independent and Free, Lonnie VanHook, and Ingrid Tischer launched a lawsuit to strike down the California assisted suicide law with the goal of the case going to the US Supreme Court to strike down assisted laws throughout the US. (Link to the complaint).

The case asserted that the assisted suicide act is a discriminatory scheme, which creates a two-tiered medical system in which people who are suicidal receive radically different treatment responses by their physicians and protections from the State depending on whether the person has what the physician deems to be a “terminal disease”—which, by definition, is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Link to the article). 

The case was denied by U.S. District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha but an appeal of Aenlle-Rocha's decision has been filed.

Saskatchewan 2023 euthanasia deaths increase by more than 25%.

Canada had approximately 15,280 euthanasia deaths in 2023 up from 13,241 in 2022. 

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition wonders why Canada's province of Saskatchewan had a greater than 25% increase in euthanasia deaths in 2023?

The Saskatchewan Health Authority reported to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition that there were 344 assisted deaths in 2023 up from 257 in 2022.

On July 8, 2024 I published an article estimating that there were approximately 15,280 euthanasia deaths in 2023, a 15.4% increase based on data from Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Based on the data that I published on July 8 I predicted that there were approximately 15,280 Canadian assisted deaths in 2023. Here is how I made my prediction.

The BC Medical Assistance in Dying 2023 report stated that there were 2767 reported assisted deaths up 10% from 2515 in 2022.

CBC Radio Canada published an article on March 9, 2024 stating that in 2023 there were 5,686 reported deaths representing 7.3% of all deaths and a 17% increase in Québec euthanasia deaths from 2022.  This represents the highest euthanasia rate in the world. The Radio Canada report was based on the Quebec euthanasia deaths between January 1 - December 31, 2023.

The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario released the December 2023 MAiD data indicating that there were 4641 reported euthanasia deaths in 2023 which was up by 18% from 3934 reported euthanasia deaths in 2022.

The Alberta Health Services reports that there were 977 reported assisted deaths in 2023 which was up by more than 18% from 836 reported assisted deaths in 2022.

The Nova Scotia Medical Assistance in Dying data indicates that there were 342 reported assisted deaths in 2023 which was up by more than 25% from 272 in 2022.

An article published by Global news, which may only be preliminary data, indicated that there were 236 reported Manitoba assisted deaths in 2023 which was up by 6% from 223 in 2022.

According to the data from Ontario, Québec, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, there were 14,757 assisted deaths in 2023 (in those Provinces) which was up by 15.7% from 12,747 assisted deaths in 2022 (in those Provinces). 

Since the total number of Canadian assisted deaths in 2022 was 13,241, I still predict that there were approximately 15,280 Canadian assisted deaths in 2023.

Isle of Man House of Keys passes assisted suicide bill

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Isle of Man legislative building

The Isle of Man assisted dying bill passed on third reading in the House of Keys (Lower House).

Two-thirds of the 24 members of the House of Keys voted in favour of the assisted dying bill. The bill requires that a person be an adult (at least 18) given a 12 month prognosis and must live on the Isle of Man for at least 5 years to qualify to be killed.

Rebecca Brahde reported for BBC news on July 23 significant opposition to the bill remains. According to Brahde:

Tim Glover described the proposed bill as a "Pandora's box", adding that the views of a number of charities, community groups and churches had not been sought.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan raised concerns over the increase from six months life expectancy to 12 and noted that under the proposals only people "capable of ingesting the poison themselves" would be eligible.

Chris Thomas said any decision on proposed assisted dying legislation should be what was best for the Isle of Man, and not based on the campaigns of UK pressure groups.

Julie Edge said she believed it was “irresponsible” to support legislation where there was a lack of detail on how, where and by whom the service would be provided and administered, and how it would be funded.

When I spoke in the Isle of Man to members of the legislative council I had great hope because the Chief Minister opposed the bill.

Ashley Tracey reported for BBC news on July 24, 2024 that:

Chief executive of Dignity in Dying Sarah Wootton said the vote to take the bill forward was a "victory for compassion and common sense".

But campaign group Manx Duty of Care, made up of healthcare professionals, said the move was "deeply disappointing" and emotion had "overruled reason" during the debate.

Graham McAll

Isle of Man doctors remain opposed to assisted suicide. Tracey reported:

Retired GP Graham McAll, who is a member of an opposition group of about 150 health and social care workers, Manx Duty of Care, said the passing of the bill by MHKs meant "centuries of medical ethics were turned upside down".

Raising concerns over the future recruitment of doctors, he said it could "put staff off moving to the island", which would "also affect the health of hundreds of us".

GP Fiona Baker from the Isle of Man Medical Society said there was “sadness and anger” amongst its members that the bill was set to progress despite evidence presented to MHKs on “the damage it will do to our health service and the danger for our vulnerable groups in society”.

Doctors "see people every day in our surgeries" whose lives could be "ended prematurely because of a wrong diagnosis, wrong prognosis, and coercion that isn’t spotted”, she said.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hopes that the Isle of Man Upper House (Tynwald) will prevent the legalization of assisted suicide.

Canada's euthanasia slippery slope. American activist wants Canada's euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An article written by Meagan Gillmore and published in Canadian Affairs on July 19, 2024 refers to Canada's euthanasia law as a slippery slope. This article is important for how it covers Canada's euthanasia law but also how several American death lobby leaders respond.

Gillmore begins the article by interviewing Ian McIntosh, a Canadian who lives in Virginia. Gillmore writes:

But reports of Canada’s permissive medical assistance in dying (MAID) laws, and stories of people accessing it due to poverty or disability, fill him with “profound concern and disbelief,” he said from northern Virginia, his home since 2016.

McIntosh, originally from Ontario, says if someone had told him in 2015 and 2016, when Canada’s first MAID law was being crafted, that Canada would eventually allow adults without terminal illnesses to qualify for MAID, he “would have said this is out of some horror novel, some dystopian novel.”

Thaddeus Pope

Gillmore interviews Thaddeus Pope, who is an American euthanasia activist and bio-ethicist who states:

“When people say, ‘slippery slope,’ the implication is that the thing at the bottom of the slope is a place you do not want to be,”

“I don’t think the thing at the bottom of the slope is actually a thing to avoid, even if we were sliding there,”

“I don’t think we are, but even if we were sliding toward Canada, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Thaddeus Pope stated on his Blog that:

I make some comments in this new article in Canadian Affairs. The article contrasts MAID laws in the United States and Canada. I argue that Canada is a model, not an anti-model.

Pope confirms the point that I have been making for several years. The American assisted suicide lobby wants to expand their laws from assisted suicide to euthanasia. In other words, the American assisted suicide lobby is not satisfied with limiting assisted deaths to doctors prescribing lethal poison, but rather they want to follow Canada's lead and allow doctors and nurses to lethally administer the poison.

Assisting a suicide is what is currently permitted in 10 US states but the assisted suicide lobby want to transform their laws to permit doctors and nurses directly killing their patients (euthanasia) which is a homicide and is what occurs in Canada.

Anita Cameron

Gillmore continues her article by interviewing Anita Cameron from Not Dead Yet. Gillmore writes:

Despite differences in law, philosophical arguments supporting and opposing MAID are similar in both countries. So are concerns that MAID will put people in vulnerable situations — including people with disabilities and those living in poverty — at increased risk of being explicitly or implicitly coerced into ending their lives.

Anita Cameron, director of minority outreach at Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights organization, says people with disabilities are scared that what has happened in Canada could happen in America. “We’re trying to sound the alarm here,” she said.

Cameron, who has multiple disabilities, lived in Canada temporarily when she was younger and once considered moving to Canada permanently. “There’s no way in this universe, this multiverse, or the next that I will move to Canada now,” she said.

Gillmore then interviews Dr Mark Komrad, a psychiatrist in Maryland. Gillmore writes:

Dr. Mark Komrad, a practising psychiatrist and medical ethicist based in Maryland, where assisted dying legislation was recently introduced, says any form of MAID represents “a profound and fundamental change in civilization in general, certainly in medical ethics.”

It contradicts a clear medical ethic: that doctors do not harm their patients, he says.

Komrad became interested in assisted dying laws worldwide in 2015 when he heard of psychiatric patients in Europe dying by MAID. Soon, he learned about Canada. He now travels internationally, sharing his concerns about MAID, which he considers to be assisted suicide.

He compares himself to Paul Revere, who warned Americans about British armies during the American Revolution. Only, Komrad warns Americans about the dangers of MAID in Canada and elsewhere.

Gillmore continues by writing:

The two countries have very different laws, says Pope. “Canada is basically the most permissive in the world, and the United States is the most restrictive in the world,” he said, comparing the countries’ eligibility criteria. “Even though they are right next to each other, they’re about as far apart as you can get in terms of eligibility and who can access it legally.”

In the US, patients must have a terminal illness — meaning medical professionals have determined they are reasonably likely to die within six months. Canada, by contrast, has never had a time-based requirement and removed the requirement that someone’s death be “reasonably foreseeable” in 2021. This created what is known as Track 2 MAID — MAID for people who have serious illnesses, diseases or disabilities and are suffering, but whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable.

MAID is administered differently in the countries, too. In the US, patients must self-administer lethal drugs. In Canada, most patients receive the drugs intravenously. Fewer than seven people who died by MAID in both 2021 and 2022 self-administered the drugs, according to Health Canada reports.

Gillmore continues by quoting from Komrad:

“Canada is the most compelling case study for anyone who pays attention and is interested in this,” he says. Countries that legalized MAID before Canada, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, “are easy [for Americans] to dismiss” because of distance and size. Canada is closer to the US — geographically and culturally, he says.

“When you see this galloping [horse] of MAID in Canada, I think it’s a lot easier for Americans to identify that that can happen here,”

Gillmore juxtaposes Komrad with comments from Thaddeus Pope:

“Canada is, in a sense, 20 years ahead of the US on this,” he said. “Obviously, it’s informative to look at what might you authorize. You don’t have to do any of it.”

Pope supports Canada’s current laws, although some aspects of Track 2 MAID make him uncomfortable. He says there should be a way to ensure Track 2 applicants have seriously considered non-lethal options to relieve their suffering.

“I think that generally each person is the best judge for themselves of what is in their best interest,” he said. “I don’t think the right response is to completely ban that option for those people. But absolutely, I think that we should make sure that it’s carefully considered.”

The increasing number of MAID deaths in Canada “is a red flag,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that anything bad is happening.”

Gillmore completes the article by giving Komrad the last word:

Komrad disagrees. The rapid rise in deaths by MAID in Canada should cause concern, he says. “Just because something is legal, doesn’t [mean] it’s ethical,” he said.

He hopes in the future people will look back at current support for MAID and ask, ‘What were they thinking?’

“Maybe I won’t be alive to see that,” he said. “But one day we may be able to look back and say that.”

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is working to waken the people and enable them to say about euthanasia ‘What were they thinking?’

Britain's healthcare financial crisis may lead the government to legalize assisted suicide.

Human life is devalued when a price is put on people's lives or their care

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A report from the UK government's National Audit Office on the financial sustainability of the NHS - National Health Services in the UK, that was released on July 23, 2024 may lead to their government pushing to legalizing assisted suicide.

The conclusion of the NHS financial sustainability report states:

The scale of challenge facing the NHS today and foreseeable in the years ahead is unprecedented.

When we consider how the health needs of the population look set to increase, we are concerned that the NHS may be working at the limits of a system which might break before it is again able to provide patients with care that meets standards for timeliness and accessibility.

The NHS financial sustainability report was released just as Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain's Labour Party has become the Prime Minister. Starmer is a long-time promoter of assisted suicide. During the election Starmer promised that he would introduce a bill and allow a free-vote to legalize assisted suicide in the UK. The July 4 election resulted in the Labour Party winning a massive majority of the seats.

An article in The Standard states about the NHS financial sustainability report:

The report is the ninth of its kind by the NAO, and the first to be published since February 2020.

Experts said its findings depict “a picture of systemic failures and inefficient decision-making”.

The report warned that NHS England’s financial position is “worsening” due to a “combination of long-standing and recent issues, including failure to invest in the estate, inflationary pressures, and the cost of post-pandemic recovery”.

The article also pointed out that the UK is undergoing a demographic shift towards an aging population.

It said there is scope for NHS England to “make better use” of its funds, but long-term sustainability depends on how the Government addresses the “steeply increasing demand for healthcare”.

It added that the country’s changing demographics “will continue to create significant additional demand for NHS services” and warned “people are living longer and spending more years in ill-health”.

According to the report, the NHS received £153 Billion and the combined deficit in the system was £1.4 Billion which doesn't take into account the increased funding that was already invested into the NHS system to balance the funding.

Legalizing euthanasia and/or assisted suicide to control the cost of health care leads to dangerous outcomes, as has happened in Canada. 

When human lives are deemed to be "better off dead" or "costing too much" then people with healthcare needs, especially people with disabilities, will be urged to "choose" death. Subtle pressure is often enough to cause a significant shift in healthcare.

Tracy Poleczuk with her husband.

James Reinl recently published an article in the Daily Mail where he interviewed Heather Hancock, a Canadian Saskatchewan woman who lives with spastic cerebral palsy who was pressured three times, while receiving medical care, to ask for euthanasia.

An article by Matt Gilmour that was published by CTV news Montreal concerned Tracy Polewczuk, a woman who lives with Spina Bifida, who on two separate occasions was urged to request euthanasia by a medical professional without Tracy initiating the request.

Both Canadian ladies, live with disabilities and feel that their lives have been devalued by the pressure to "choose" death over life.

Polewczuk told Gilmour in the interview that:

"Pain sucks. We all agree. It's terrible. I'm in pain 24/7. It never stops. I can survive that. I cannot survive being treated like a sack of meat,"

Heather Hancock

While Hancock told Reinl in the interview that:

A nurse was helping her into the bathroom at night, during a lengthy bout of care for muscular spasms in 2019, when the carer crossed a line into the unthinkable.

'You should do the right thing and consider MAiD,' said the nurse, referring to the country's Medical Assistance in Dying program.

'You're being selfish. You're not living, you're merely existing.'

Hancock, now 56, says she was 'gobsmacked' but stood her ground, telling the nurse that her life had value, even if she spent four fifths of it in a wheelchair.

People with disabilities are right to be concerned.

I fear that the NHS financial crisis may create pressure for the new UK government led by long-time assisted suicide activist, Keir Starmer, to push the UK government to legalize assisted suicide as soon as possible.

Human life is devalued when a price is put on people's lives or their care.

Contact Delaware Governor John Carney to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Everyone needs to contact Governor John Carney and urge him to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140. 

Call Governor Carney at: 302-744-4101 or email him at: john.carney@delaware.gov

A news story by Sarah Mueller for whyy news stated:

Democratic Rep. Paul Baumbach, the prime sponsor, said the bill has not yet been sent to the governor. A spokesperson for the governor said lawyers were reviewing the legislation. Requests to clarify their answers received no response.

I was reading the Medical Futility blog by euthanasia activist, Thaddeus Pope, which indicated that Delaware was now the 12th US jurisdiction to legalize assisted suicide since Governor John Carney had not signed or vetoed HB 140 within 10 days after transmittal.

Stephen Mendolsohn, who is a great political researcher, disagreed with Pope stating that the Delaware rules require the Governor to act within 30 days of adjournment or the legislation is "pocket vetoed" when a bill reaches the Governor after the session adjournment. The second scenario is in play in Delaware.

Today I called Governor Carney's office and asked for the status of HB 140. The response was that HB 140 has not yet reached the Governor's desk. A recent news article stated that Governor Carney has asked lawyers to examine the bill based on his concerns.

Everyone needs to contact Governor John Carney. Call him at: 302-744-4101 or email him at: john.carney@delaware.gov

Previous articles:

• Delaware Governor Carney needs to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140 to protect citizens in need of real care (Link).
• Delaware Governor John Carney needs to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140 (Link)

At least 4 New Zealand suicide deaths linked to Canadian

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Two of the suicide substance victims

The Agence France-Press reported on July 22 that at least 4 New Zealand suicide deaths are linked to a Canadian who sold "suicide kits" online.

Kenneth Law was charged with 14 counts of second degree murder in December 2023. Law is believed to have distributed "suicide kits" to 1200 people world-wide who ordered the kits online. Recent news reports indicate that Law's trial will begin in September 2025.

According to Agence France-Press:

A New Zealand coroner has formally linked four deaths to the sale of “suicide kits” bought online from a former Canadian chef, according to findings published Monday.

Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame found that three students, aged 18 to 21, and one 40-year-old personal trainer killed themselves after buying kits from businesses linked to Canadian Kenneth Law.

Canadian police believe Law sent as many as 1,200 “suicide kits” to people in more than 40 countries between 2020 and his arrest last year — specifically targeting vulnerable people online.

Agence France-Press reported that at least 88 people died in Britain after receiving the suicide kit.

Imogen Nunn

On August 27, 2023 Jon Woodward reported for CP 24 that:

The British mom of a TikTok star is coming forward demanding justice after she found out her daughter died using a so-called suicide kit allegedly sold by a Canadian man, as deaths possibly tied to Kenneth Law rise to over 100.

Louise Nunn said it was sickening to learn that the death of her daughter Imogen, known as “Deaf Immy” to 710,000 TikTok followers, was one of 88 British people local police say died after ordering products from Law’s websites over a two-year period.

Nunn said it was heartbreaking to learn of other deaths months and years before Imogen’s, and believes many lives could have been saved if authorities had acted earlier.

Charges against Law include a 16-year-old suicide death in Ontario. CBC News reported on May 8 that 17-year-old Anthony Jones from Michigan allegedly died in connection to Law's suicide kit.

Law appeared for a bail hearing on Friday August 25, 2023 and plead not guilty. Woodward reported:

Police in Canada have warned about the websites, allegedly run by Mississauga’s Kenneth Law, ...Peel Police said at the time of his arrest that they had tracked some 1,200 products to 40 countries.

Law claims that he is innocent of the charges and had no control over what people did with his suicide substance. Law was selling a legal product, that was packaged in a lethal dose. Law was promoting and selling the "suicide kit" allegedly purpose of suicide.

Britain will debate assisted suicide bill this year.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain's Labour Party, has been a long-time promoter of assisted suicide. During the election Starmer promised that he would introduce a bill and allow a free-vote on legalizing assisted suicide in the UK. The July 4 election resulted in the Labour Party winning a massive majority with 411 out of 650 parliamentary seats.

After the election Starmer reiterated his support for assisted suicide and promised a free-vote within the year. BBC news reported:

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he remains committed to giving MPs a free vote on assisted dying laws at some point.

The prime minister said he would provide parliamentary time for a vote if a backbench MPs proposed changing the law, but stressed the government had other "priorities for the first year or so".

Starmer continued:

"As to the timing of it, I haven't made a commitment on that and I don't want to.

"I'm not going back on the commitment I made, it's just we have got to set out priorities for the first year or so, but I will double down on the commitment that we are going to do that, we will allow time for a private member's bill, and there will be a free vote."

After the British election, a "lottery" determines the order for introducing private members bills. In the House of Lords, Lord Falconer received the right to introduce his private members bill second. Falconer, who has sponsored previous assisted suicide bills, will introduce the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Adults bill on Friday July 26.

Britain needs to fully examine Canada's experience with euthanasia and reject it. Hopefully the House of Lords will defeat the Falconer assisted suicide bill.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will keep you up-to-date on the British assisted suicide bills. We will continue to work with the Care Not Killing Alliance and other groups in the UK that oppose assisted suicide. I am already scheduled to speak in London England on September 28 and Glasgow Scotland on October 5.

Clergy distress related to euthanasia and assisted suicide (MAiD)

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is not a religious organization, so when I read the article With assisted death, Christian clergy face profound questions, by Richard Cuthbertson that was published by CBC news, I wondered how to comment.

Euthanasia was legalized in Canada under the invented term (MAiD) in June 2016. Over the past 8 years EPC has dealt with many people who were seeking to die by euthanasia (MAiD), who were already approved for euthanasia or family members and friends who were wanting to prevent the euthanasia death. I have also been involved with helping or advising many clergy from different denominations as they were faced with a Church member who was approved for or died by euthanasia.

I also have significant experience with people who are suffering from grief and distress after a friend or family member has died from euthanasia. People have spoken to me with PTSD symptoms and others have talked about their profound grief.

Cuthbertson's article concerns interviews by April Hart, a United Church minister who is working on a Masters of Divinity. 

I wonder if the first story was dug up and dropped into the article to undermine the Catholic Church approach that opposes killing people. The opening interview was based on a Catholic man who died by euthanasia in February 2020. It is striking that there is no mention of the priest seeking to prevent the euthanasia death. The story explains that:

"(the priest) heard Peter's confession in the living room and anointed him with oil, a Catholic ritual known as the sacrament of the sick."

"Peter's funeral, officiated by another priest, was held in the local Catholic church, an imposing gothic revival sandstone building on the north side of town. He is buried in the graveyard across the street."

Cuthbertson did not interview the priests involved so it's hard to know if there were attempts to dissuade Peter from euthanasia, nonetheless if the article's rendition of the story is accurate then there are concerns with how it was handled.

Cuthbertson also writes about David Maginley who was a chaplain in Halifax. Cuthbertson tells Maginley's story:

David Maginley, a former chaplain in the Halifax hospital system who has sat at the deathbeds of hundreds of people, vividly remembers attending his first MAID in 2017.

The patient's body was withered by end-of-life cancer, but he had "shining eyes." The disease would kill him soon, likely within a week, but he didn't want to wait.

As the two talked, the man spoke of a childhood memory of lying in the grass, staring at the sky and eating a Jos Louis cake. Maginley popped out and bought him one.

Just hours later, with his wife holding him, the patient was injected with the drugs that would take his life. Maginley recalls him saying: "I love you and goodbye, thank you."

It was, it seemed, a "beautiful" death. But Maginley said he was struck by something unexpected.

"I'm at the foot of the bed and seeing that big, that gigantic white vial of medication go into him," he said. "It just felt so different than removal of life-support or natural death. It was so different. We were causing death."

Unsure what to do next, Maginley prayed the man would be at peace, that he could once again lie down in the grass in the sunshine, that he would watch over his family.

Maginley returned to his office, locked the door and "fell apart." What had he just witnessed? Had he colluded in death? Wasn't this compassionate?

Since then, he's been at the bedsides for about 10 more MAIDs. Some have been "horrible," most have been "what we would call kind." But his distress remained. MAID, he worries, is about clinging to control in a medical model that aims to fix things.

"Most people, as they die, move into a mystical or a transpersonal state of consciousness," he said. 

"They're filled with peace, equanimity, they have mystical visions — these are universal. And it really changes not only their fear of death, but the family's process of grief. It's beautiful. But I don't see it happening with MAID. We shut you off before you reach that stage."

He realized he could no longer attend assisted deaths. Unwilling to simply step back from those cases, leaving them to other chaplains, he took early retirement in January after 25 years in spiritual care, and has written a book about what he has learned that he expects to publish soon.

It is good that Cuthbertson included significant information about Maginley and his experience with euthanasia. Maginley expresses his concern with MAiD deaths but also points out how natural deaths are very different than euthanasia deaths.

Maginley expresses his experience with distress with relation to these deaths. The distress related to euthanasia is very common. As stated earlier, I have spoken to many people who were grieving or experiencing PTSD reactions. 

There are not easy responses to individual situations. My personal experience helps me recognize the emotional, spiritual and psychological distress that many people have experienced with relation to euthanasia deaths. Some people have said to me 'You don't understand' as if, since I oppose euthanasia I cannot understand these deaths, where in fact, nothing is further from the truth.

Killing is never caring or compassionate. Killing abandons the person in their time of need.

Americans with Disabilities Act - 34th Anniversary.

By Meghan Schrader

Meghan Schrader

Meghan is an autistic person who is an instructor at E4 - University of Texas (Austin) and an EPC-USA board member.

It’s disability pride month in the United States, when the disabled community is celebrating the 34th anniversary of the 1990 signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As with countries around the world, the experience of being a disabled citizen is a mixed bag. As a disabled American, I personally think of America as the equivalent of a dysfunctional family member-like a brother, mother, aunt, cousin, etc. who you know has a drinking problem and has been in and out of rehab, but for whom you have great admiration and hope as well, because they’re your family and you’ve been there to experience their triumphs & good qualities. I think that’s probably the right approach-recognizing the country’s problems but also working with hope to make the country better. 

One example of a recent improvement for disabled people is that Florida just legalized Supported Decision Making, an alternative to guardianship where disabled people retrain the right to make their own decisions, but with a team of support people that the disabled person chooses. Another important change that occurred recently was the updated Section 504 regulations that require that doctors and politicians not make policy or medical decisions based on the dehumanizing premise that disabled people’s lives are not worth saving. Among other improvements to the medical system, this would seem to preclude policies that facilitate disabled people’s suicides or forced DNRs. That’s very important progress.

But, the deep ableism in the world continues to wound, demoralize and oppress people with disabilities. For instance, in addition to California senator Blaspear ‘s failed bill to subject that state’s disabled community to a Canada-like euthanasia law, Democrat governor Gavin Newsom spearheaded Proposition 1, which, instead of funding community mental health treatment, gives the state an inappropriately high level of latitude to institutionalize mentally ill people against their will. The Republican National Convention recently denied the American Association of People with Disabilities request for accommodations at the Republican National Convention. When asked by 90 disability rights organizations to make the recent presidential debate accessible to disabled people and to integrate disability rights issues into the debate questions, CNN merely gave instructions on how to turn on the captions on a TV. That means that issues pertaining to things like better opportunities for students enrolled in Special Education, intersectional disability justice, sub-minimum wages, marriage penalties for SSI recipients, deinstitutionalization, various Supreme Court cases, and life-threatening medical discrimination against disabled people were not addressed by the candidates and were not visible to the greater populace. 

The long-standing pattern of disabled people being invisible to our culture that many people don’t mind if we die was maintained. During the debate the American Association of People with Disabilities posted on X, “Assisted suicide is eugenics, and should never be praised or considered a viable alternative to providing disabled people with comprehensive, high-quality affordable medical care. #CripTheVote.” But, of course the debate did not address that issue, because the ongoing influence of eugenics on our culture means that disabled people are invisible. To many people, disabled people aren’t really a marginalized group, and we aren’t worth including in a vision for America.

Because of this oppression, many disabled people are so demoralized that they have a tough time celebrating disability pride month. Disability justice leader Alice Wong posted on X, 

“This July is the 34th anniversary of the ADA and it is beyond disappointing how little has changed. We still have to fight for the right to be in public spaces and live in the community instead of institutions. I am not in a celebratory mood.” 

Disability rights attorney Gregory Mansfield posted on X, 

“It is infuriating that, 34 years after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), cities are still developing transition plans to comply with it. It amounts to another generation of exclusion of disabled people.”

Generally, I’m with Alice and Gregory. I haven’t given up hope for our country or the world, but the extreme prejudice that disabled people face is exhausting and pisses me off. As disability rights icon Judy Heumann said in the 1970s, 

“I’m tired of being grateful for accessible toilets.” 

Yes, that. I am tired of disabled people being expected to be grateful for having crappy jobs. I am tired of disabled people having to be grateful for just being in a general education classroom or graduating from high school. I am tired of disability history being invisible. I’m tired of disabled people being the victims of interpersonal violence. I am tired of disabled persons having to justify our existence to bioethicists, to the mainstream media and to legislators worldwide. It makes me mad that in 2024, disability justice advocates are still having to spend our time opposing neo-eugenic ideas from Ancient Rome and the 1930's.

So, I find myself thinking back to my first annual meeting of the Society of Disability Studies in 2011. At the SDS community dance that happens at the end of the conference, the DJ played the song, “We Are Family.” And, as I interacted with so many other people who also had atypical bodies, and were also passionate about disability justice, it really felt true. SDS was one of the first environments where I felt fully accepted as a disabled person. I’ve found a similar environment at my current job, where students and teachers work together to help each other pursue dignity and happiness.

Therefore, as I’ve said in some of my other posts, I think the disabled community needs to embrace a philosophy of “chosen family,” to survive the ignorance that we endure. I think that community with one another, and with people of all abilities, is one of the best ways for disabled people to lead dignified and joyful lives in a society that often makes it hard to experience a sense of pride during disability pride month. And, I believe that people of all backgrounds have the potential to collaborate to improve the social condition of disabled people, on the premise that we are all members of a “human family.”