Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
 |
| Christine Gauthier |
McKay begins her article by interviewing Canadian veteran Christine Gauthier:
Christine Gauthier, a disabled Canadian veteran, says she was“completely shocked” when a government caseworker several years ago offered her medical aid in dying instead of basic disability support. As New York considers a similar path, her story serves as a stark warning.
“I was really depressed because of what I have been through,”Ms. Gauthier tells The New York Sun. “You won’t give me the equipment I need to live but will let me die. It was surreal.”
A former artillery expert who served during the Gulf War, Ms.Gauthier suffered irreversible spinal damage during military training in 1989. Despite undergoing multiple surgeries and competing in the 2016 Paralympics and Invictus Games, she says she’s spent the past several years fighting for a wheelchair ramp and other basic accommodations.
McKay explains that if New York's Governor Hochul does not veto the assisted suicide bill that has passed in New York's Assembly and Senate then similar stories could happen in New York.
 |
| Alex Schadenberg |
“The New York assisted suicide bill is wider than most assisted suicide laws because it does not have a waiting period and it does not have a residency requirement. The lack of a residency requirement fulfills the goal of the assisted suicide lobby that anyone in America can die by assisted suicide,” the executive director at the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Alex Schadenberg, tells the Sun.
“And the no waiting period means that a person can have a same-day death.”
McKay also reported that I said:
Mr. Schadenberg added that in many cases, both the evaluating doctors and the second assessors are closely tied to assisted suicide organizations, weakening oversight.
“There is no independent third party ensuring the law is being followed,” he said, highlighting that both eligibility and oversight are undermined, with many doctors involved in the process directly referred by pro-assisted suicide organizations.
 |
| Jessica Rodgers |
Critics warn that once assisted death is legalized, eligibility often broadens beyond initial guardrails. “In states where assisted suicide is legal, the eligibility has expanded in practice — even without voters or lawmakers changing the laws,”
McKay explains what has happened in Canada:
While New York’s proposed law includes more restrictions than Canada’s, critics often point north to highlight how safeguards can erode. Canada’s “medical assistance in dying” program was legalized in 2016 for adults with incurable conditions and was expanded in 2021 to include those without terminal illnesses. By 2023, more than 15,000 people died through MAID — accounting for roughly one in every 20 deaths in Canada.
That’s five times higher than when the law was first enacted in2016, raising concerns that the expansion of eligibility may be fueling the rise
Canada’s MAID law is now among the most permissive globally, and by 2027 it will include patients with mental illness as their sole condition — even in the absence of any physical disease. Most recipients cite severe pain, loss of dignity, or inability to enjoy life as primary reasons for ending their lives. Canadian media have also documented cases where people sought MAID due to poverty, lack of housing, or inadequate disability benefits.
McKay examines the issue of whether or not suicide rates are affected by the legalization of assisted suicide. I responded:
“When comparing the suicide rate in the Netherlands to other European countries that have not legalized assisted death, you notice an increase in the suicide rate in the Netherlands and a decrease in the suicide rate in countries that have not legalized,” noted Mr. Schadenberg.McKay looks further into the issue and writes:
Contrary to early hopes, legalizing assisted dying has reportedly not reduced overall suicide rates. A 2021 study in Oregon shows a 32 percent increase in the general suicide rate since legalization. European data point to similar trends— with countries like Belgium, after euthanasia legalization in 2002, reporting by 2016 the highest non-assisted suicide rate in women across Europe. In Switzerland, the female suicide rate, including assisted deaths, nearly doubled between 1998 and 2017. Assisted death has been legal since 1941, with statistics tracked since 1998.
“The concept that assisted suicide is about compassion or autonomy is simply not true. These laws work by giving doctors the right in law to be involved with causing your death. That isn’t autonomy,” said Mr. Schadenberg.
“Once it is decided that death can be an answer to a difficult human condition, then it becomes discriminatory to deny it to others in a similar condition. The reality is that people can die a peaceful death without being killed. This should be the focus because this is what people want.”
McKay ends her article with a quote from Christine Gauthier:
For the likes of Ms. Gauthier, however, basic needs to get through daily life would be a long-awaited step in the right direction.
“Things are not really moving; I am back to not being able to use the elevator. I have to deal with that on top of the medical and emotional effects of it all,” she added. “I am still waiting for the surgeries. I am still isolated, so I haven’t been able to hear from anyone much.”
Links to similar articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment