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| Gordon Friesen |
President, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Quebec is only one part of Canada you might say? Think again! Quebec does not even have English as an official language. The history of Québec and the British colonies was one of war and conquest. Although not a sovereign country Québec is nonetheless recognized as a "distinct society".
As concerns euthanasia, Canada's Parliament rejected euthanasia in 2010 by a vote of 228 to 59. But only five years later, in defiance of Canada's Criminal Code, Québec invented and proceeded with the application of Medical Aid in Dying (assisted death defined as a normal medical treatment).
When I state that MAID was invented in Québec, that might not be perfectly accurate from an academic point of view. Other people had indeed suggested the use of death as a medical treatment. However, Québec was the first in Canada to write that radical new concept into law, and it is they who have the most developed MAID regime on the planet.
This is no small thing, as one other country (Spain), and two American States (New Mexico and Colorado) have since adopted that concept in law. Furthermore, the idea has been enthusiastically picked up in other States (even without mention in legislation as such).
In sum, Québec is at the cutting edge of euthanasia (MAiD) theory and practice. And with all of the main Western countries now toying with medical homicide, essentially on the Québec model: examining Québec experience right now is surely our most accurate way of understanding where the whole of Western Civilization is actually headed.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
As it turns out, Québec has just released a yearly MAID euthanasia report (April 2023 to March 2024) which will help us to do just that.
The first take away (of course) is the sheer volume: 7.3% of all deaths, or 5700+ per year, in a population of only 9.1 million! Roughly translated to the scale of U.S.A. this would yield 210,000 medical homicides every year. I am wondering whether that number is big enough to grab the attention of our American friends?
Let us also remember that Québec did not achieve that number deliberately. Quite the opposite: absolutely no one predicted such a thing. Official estimates, before legalization, were for perhaps, 100 per year, or 57 times less! In reality, euthanasia in Québec has simply grown up like the carnivorous plant in the Little Shop of Horrors. This growth just logically stems from the MAiD concept itself, and any jurisdiction which enables that logic must lucidly expect the same.
To be clear, MAiD declares assisted death (assisted suicide or euthanasia) as a medical treatment to end suffering. No more, no less. But no one really seems to have thought it through... For there is a lot of suffering in the world, and a lot of sufferers. If we once decide that it is a medically good idea to kill sufferers in order to end suffering, then, honestly, there is no where to stop short of the kind of planet-busting bomb seen in Sci-fi fantasies. For that would be the only way to end suffering on Earth.
Sloppy here, sloppy there, sloppy, sloppy everywhere
It is this kind of absurd thinking which explains some of the more troubling findings in this report. For example, it is noted that 99.7% of all euthanasia procedures were performed with due respect to Law. However, that statement is also an admission that at least 17 of these deaths were not. And there have been no visible signs of professional retribution.
But that number also seems suspiciously low. In Ontario for example (having a much more conservative attitude to MAID) 428 potentially illegal instances are noted between 2018 and 2023. We can thus imagine that oversight provisions are less stringent from one Province to the next. Furthermore, earlier this year it was semi-officially felt that things were getting out of hand in Quebec to the point where a general letter was sent to Quebec physicians urging them to take a stricter view of eligibility requirements!
Interestingly, also, there are basic accounting discrepancies which lead us to believe that a significant number of euthanasia procedures are not reported at all.
We therefore wonder whether there is any serious intent to actually enforce legal provisions.
Holding their feet to the fire?
Many of my professional friends get very excited when they find that patients are euthanized --in what appears to be a very cavalier (and perhaps even illegal) fashion-- without ever examining what other alternatives might exist. However, these are people who believe that each euthanasia is a tragic failure of society to properly care for its dependent members.
Sadly, the definition of euthanasia as medical care encourages a completely opposite analysis. Viewed from this perspective, suffering simply must stop one way or another. And if procedures and laws must be bent to make that happen: so be it!
Finally (and unpleasant as it may be to consider) this last attitude is also compatible with one even worse: the utilitarian belief that only productive members of society deserve to be maintained. That beyond a relatively modest cut-off level, the only good patient is a dead patient; that the only good file is a closed file; and that the best file of all is one that is closed at the lowest cost.
The bottom line
Behold therefore the Canadian Province of Québec! That is the House that MAID built! Do not assume "it can not happen here"! People in authority who still believe that assisted death might be an exception which will only impact the "most vulnerable" and which can be managed with sufficient government supports, are --to put the thing delicately-- not being quite honest with themselves.
As concerns euthanasia, Canada's Parliament rejected euthanasia in 2010 by a vote of 228 to 59. But only five years later, in defiance of Canada's Criminal Code, Québec invented and proceeded with the application of Medical Aid in Dying (assisted death defined as a normal medical treatment).
When I state that MAID was invented in Québec, that might not be perfectly accurate from an academic point of view. Other people had indeed suggested the use of death as a medical treatment. However, Québec was the first in Canada to write that radical new concept into law, and it is they who have the most developed MAID regime on the planet.
This is no small thing, as one other country (Spain), and two American States (New Mexico and Colorado) have since adopted that concept in law. Furthermore, the idea has been enthusiastically picked up in other States (even without mention in legislation as such).
In sum, Québec is at the cutting edge of euthanasia (MAiD) theory and practice. And with all of the main Western countries now toying with medical homicide, essentially on the Québec model: examining Québec experience right now is surely our most accurate way of understanding where the whole of Western Civilization is actually headed.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
As it turns out, Québec has just released a yearly MAID euthanasia report (April 2023 to March 2024) which will help us to do just that.
The first take away (of course) is the sheer volume: 7.3% of all deaths, or 5700+ per year, in a population of only 9.1 million! Roughly translated to the scale of U.S.A. this would yield 210,000 medical homicides every year. I am wondering whether that number is big enough to grab the attention of our American friends?
Let us also remember that Québec did not achieve that number deliberately. Quite the opposite: absolutely no one predicted such a thing. Official estimates, before legalization, were for perhaps, 100 per year, or 57 times less! In reality, euthanasia in Québec has simply grown up like the carnivorous plant in the Little Shop of Horrors. This growth just logically stems from the MAiD concept itself, and any jurisdiction which enables that logic must lucidly expect the same.
To be clear, MAiD declares assisted death (assisted suicide or euthanasia) as a medical treatment to end suffering. No more, no less. But no one really seems to have thought it through... For there is a lot of suffering in the world, and a lot of sufferers. If we once decide that it is a medically good idea to kill sufferers in order to end suffering, then, honestly, there is no where to stop short of the kind of planet-busting bomb seen in Sci-fi fantasies. For that would be the only way to end suffering on Earth.
Sloppy here, sloppy there, sloppy, sloppy everywhere
It is this kind of absurd thinking which explains some of the more troubling findings in this report. For example, it is noted that 99.7% of all euthanasia procedures were performed with due respect to Law. However, that statement is also an admission that at least 17 of these deaths were not. And there have been no visible signs of professional retribution.
But that number also seems suspiciously low. In Ontario for example (having a much more conservative attitude to MAID) 428 potentially illegal instances are noted between 2018 and 2023. We can thus imagine that oversight provisions are less stringent from one Province to the next. Furthermore, earlier this year it was semi-officially felt that things were getting out of hand in Quebec to the point where a general letter was sent to Quebec physicians urging them to take a stricter view of eligibility requirements!
Interestingly, also, there are basic accounting discrepancies which lead us to believe that a significant number of euthanasia procedures are not reported at all.
We therefore wonder whether there is any serious intent to actually enforce legal provisions.
Holding their feet to the fire?
Many of my professional friends get very excited when they find that patients are euthanized --in what appears to be a very cavalier (and perhaps even illegal) fashion-- without ever examining what other alternatives might exist. However, these are people who believe that each euthanasia is a tragic failure of society to properly care for its dependent members.
Sadly, the definition of euthanasia as medical care encourages a completely opposite analysis. Viewed from this perspective, suffering simply must stop one way or another. And if procedures and laws must be bent to make that happen: so be it!
Finally (and unpleasant as it may be to consider) this last attitude is also compatible with one even worse: the utilitarian belief that only productive members of society deserve to be maintained. That beyond a relatively modest cut-off level, the only good patient is a dead patient; that the only good file is a closed file; and that the best file of all is one that is closed at the lowest cost.
The bottom line
Behold therefore the Canadian Province of Québec! That is the House that MAID built! Do not assume "it can not happen here"! People in authority who still believe that assisted death might be an exception which will only impact the "most vulnerable" and which can be managed with sufficient government supports, are --to put the thing delicately-- not being quite honest with themselves.
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