Dr Saba releases his book - Made To Live - in Romania.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dr Paul Saba, the author of the book Made To Live, recently released his book in Romania.

Dr Saba launched his book Made To Live on Sept 15, 2020 in Canada and earlier this month Made To Live was released in Romania.

Purchase Made To Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for $26.25 (includes tax & shipping) (Link).

An article in the Romanian Post titled: Canadian doctor, assisted by a lawyer from Oradea, fights with the government to dispel the myth of assisted suicide stated:

Dr. Paul Saba has made it his mission to oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, he has lectured before the legislatures of New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York, before international forums in Rome, Reykjavik, Santiago, Tbilisi. Together with his lawyer, born in Oradea, Natalia Manole, the doctor also came to Oradea to make the world aware of “myths, manipulation and marketing of assisted death and that this law does not belong to our culture. It certainly has no place in our medical system.” 

Dr Paul Saba in Romania

In explaining the assisted suicide myths, Dr Saba stated:

one of the arguments used in favor of assisted suicide compares this act to the consent given to an operation. “Informed consent accepts death as a potential outcome, which is weighed against the patient’s willingness to take that risk. The error is that in the case of assisted suicide or euthanasia, death is not a risk, but a certainty,”

Another myth is that Canada is a progressive country that provides for the social and health needs of its citizens. Saba stated:

“The reality is that in Canada medical services are inadequate for many of its citizens. Many people do not have their basic needs met, including affordable housing and food. They want to live in dignity rather than die by euthanasia,”

A third myth that Saba outlined is that euthanasia is an extension of palliative care. Saba stated:

“The reality is that intentionally ending life is the exact opposite of palliative care, and is even used as a de facto alternative to palliative care.

Saba also dispelled the myth that if euthanasia is legalized that it will be restricted to only a few people. Saba referred to the data in Canada and Belgium.

Saba concluded his presentation by stating:

“Euthanasia and assisted suicide are not a solution to end-of-life care. People must be cared for, not killed”

Purchase copies of Made To Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for $25 + GST ($26.25)(includes shipping) (Link).

Dr Paul Saba: The mentally ill should not be euthanized.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dr Paul Saba

Dr Paul Saba, the author of the book Made to Live and a long-time leader opposing euthanasia in Quebec, had an article published in the Suburban on September 9, 2021 titled: The mentally ill shold not be euthanized. Saba starts his article by writing about one of his patients:

This past year I cared for a young woman in her early 20s. Carole (pseudonym) has extreme anxiety and depression which has been going on for years. Carole is a community worker who works with the homeless. During the COVID pandemic her symptoms were exacerbated to the point that she has become anorexic. Unfortunately access to dieticians, psychiatrists and psychologists has been extremely difficult and limited. By seeing her on a regular basis and making myself readily available, I have kept her from giving up hope. Because of her long term psychological suffering, the recent law of Medical Assistance in Dying [MAID] could make Carole a candidate for euthanasia.

Saba then reminds the reader that the recent passing of Bill C-7 means that mental illness has been added as a reason for euthanasia. Saba writes:

I recently participated at Quebec’s Parliamentary hearings with Montreal attorney Me Natalia Manole. http://m.assnat.qc.ca/fr/video-audio/archives-parlementaires/travaux-commissions/AudioVideo-90901.html] Mental illness includes the following disorders: anxiety, depression, bipolarity, obsession-compulsion, psychosis, substance abuse, anorexia, and Asperger’s syndrome spectrum.

The causes of these mental disorders include: stress, substance abuse, low self-esteem, difficulty in adapting, personal loss, abuse, homelessness, isolation, job loss, and low income. Treatment of mental illness includes social supports, psychotherapies and psychiatric medications. A 2017 Canadian Psychiatric Association study indicates that only 29% of Canadian psychiatrists support MAID in cases of mental illness.

Even in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is practiced on the mentally ill, two-thirds of psychiatrists are opposed to it. In addition, studies show that at least 90% of people who have ended their lives by suicide were affected by mental health problems. Needless to add, most people who have attempted or committed suicide do not necessarily want to die; rather, they want to escape from their overwhelming emotional pain.

Saba then states that to be approved for euthanasia the person needs to be able to freely consent. Saba asks: But how can a mentally ill person give a free and clear consent when the desire to die is a symptom of mental illness? Saba explains that 9 out of 10 people who attempt suicide, but survive, do not end up dying by suicide but with euthanasia there are no failed attempts, all will be dead.

Saba concludes:

We need to communicate to those contemplating suicide that we do not want them to die, that they are valuable to us, there is always a reason to live, and we will help them solve their problems. We need to provide more psychological, social and financial help for those who are in distress. We must improve their living conditions by providing affordable housing, food, and basic life supports. Those with dependency problems need access to care. We need to care for those with mental health problems- not support or endorse MAID.

You can order Dr Saba's book, Made to Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (Link).

Canada’s Medically Assisted Dying Policy Sets ‘Dangerous Precedent’

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dr Paul Saba

Andrew Chen interviewed Dr Paul Saba in an article published by the Epoch Times on June 11, 2021. titled - Canada’s Medically Assisted Dying Policy Sets ‘Dangerous Precedent’: Physician and Author.

Saba who authored the book - Made to Live and is a co-founder of the Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia in Quebec told Chen:

Canada’s medically assisted dying policy sets a “dangerous precedent” that has opened the door to other scenarios in which people can be denied medical care or have their lives prematurely ended.

“In terms of expanding, first of all we change the criteria, and then we make it easier and easier to get rid of people who are faced with life’s challenges, with health issues,”

Saba who refers to Canada's assisted dying law as a "very sad statement of affairs of our society, and what we’ve become, in terms of devaluing human life" comments on Ontario's COVID-19 Triage protocol. Saba states:

“I think an even greater issue is that how we evaluate life. Once you open up that door to ending people’s lives, and evaluate people’s lives, you have the whole issue of [COVID-19] and the triage system that was being supported, and directives being set up not to care for people who were ill,”

The pandemic protocol states that only patients with a 70% chance of surviving more than 12 months would be prioritized for critical care. Saba comments:

“Once the government starts evaluating lives, and not seeing it as their mission— health care is a mission of caring for people who need to be cared for—then we’ll decide who gets cared for, who won’t get cared for, who lives, who dies. And that’s why it is so important that we … push back on this,”

Saba became concerned about these issues in 2009 when his wife was pregnant with their daughter Jessica. Jessica, had a severe congenital heart defect—her heart’s pulmonary valve was almost completely sealed—making her survival nearly impossible, but Dr Saba and his wife wanted Jessica to live and today Jessica is a healthy 12 year old. His book, Made to Live, focuses on Jessica's story.

Chen asks Dr Saba to comment on the fact that roughly 7,600 Canadians died via medically assisted death in 2020, a 35 percent increase from the roughly 5,600 cases in 2019, a number which was itself a 26 percent uptick from the approximately 4,500 cases in 2018, Health Canada senior official Abby Hoffman told the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying on June 7.

Saba says that there have been approximately 25,000 assisted deaths since legalization. He then says:

“What was supposed to be just for terminally ill people really at the end of life has now been expanded to include people who are disabled, who have chronic conditions … and they are looking at and studying for people who have mental health challenges,”

Parliament has also heard arguments for expanding medically assisted death to children.

“So, basically, death, needs to be available to everybody,”

Saba then comments on how the Covid-19 pandemic has made people with disabilities more vulnerable. He said:

Saba condemned the passing of Bill C-7 during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time “when people are most vulnerable.”

“We’re encouraging and we’re supporting … killing people with disabilities, because we know that they’ve been marginalized, that they’re struggling, and it doesn’t take much to push people over the edge,”

Saba concludes by stating:

“Ultimately, I hope one day that assisted suicide and euthanasia get reversed in our country because it’s … a dangerous policy and a dangerous precedent.”

You can order the book Made to Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. Link to order the book.

Don’t Follow Canada… Don’t kill your disabled and depressed citizens

Dr Paul Saba

Dr Paul Saba is co-founder of Physicians for Social Justice and is the author of a book entitled “Made to Live.” 

Dr. Saba states: 

"There is no justification to kill people simply because they are faced with mental or physical health care challenges." 

Montreal, March 11th, 2020: Canada voted in Parliament to adopt a law that extends assisted suicide and euthanasia to over six million depressed and disabled Canadians; a number that represents 16% of the country's population.

Dr. Paul Saba is a healthcare advocate and family physician practicing in Montreal (Quebec). Since the euthanasia law was adopted in 2016, over 20,000 Canadians have been killed under this law. The euthanasia law was initially conceived to eliminate the terminally ill with only a few months to live. However, it is now being extended to those without any life-threatening illness and who may have years to live.

In his recently released book, Made to Live, Dr. Saba provides many examples of families, friends, and patients whose lives would have been lost had they accepted their physicians’ wrong diagnoses or prognoses and chose to be euthanized. Today those people are happy to be alive.

Based on his experiences in Canada, he argues that no country should open the door to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

"Government officials and lobbyists promote the false idea that people will suffer if they are not killed. We are not in the Dark Ages. Modern medicine can care for people and alleviate psychological and physical suffering. There is no excuse to kill people even if they ask to be killed. This goes not only against medical ethics but also against humanity."

The World Medical Association, with over 11 million physicians in over 110 countries, is firmly opposed to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. https://www.wma.net/

We must proactively care for all people regardless of age, health condition, disability, and socioeconomic status, during normal times, pandemics and flu outbreaks, catastrophes, revolutions, and wars. We must provide all the necessary resources to save lives. We must stop promoting rapid death for people with disabilities, whether physical or mental - because every life is valuable and because we humans are made to live.

Dr. Paul Saba is currently a family physician who practices in Montreal and has worked in critical care and emergency medicine. He is co-founder of Physicians for Social Justice and is the author of a book entitled “Made to Live.”

Order the book - Made to Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (Link). 

Book: Made To Live. A personal and professional story. Purchase today.

Dr Saba is a Canadian hero. During the euthanasia debate, in Québec and nationally in Canada, Dr Saba not only spoke up and wrote briefs that were submitted to the committees, Dr Saba also launched a court case challenging the validity of the law.

Dr Paul Saba launched his book Made To Live on Sept 15, 2020 (Link to the book launch webinar).

Made To Live tells some of that story, but most of all Made To Live focuses on personal stories and experiences in his family and professional life.

Purchase Made To Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for $25 + GST ($26.25)(includes shipping) (Link).

The book starts with the story of his youngest daughter, Jessica, who was identified in-utero with significant heart issues. Many specialists told them that their child would not survive or if she survived her life or health would be significantly compromised.

Dr Saba and his wife believe in life and decided that they would do everything to help their daughter.

The Made To Live trailer video focuses on Jessica's story: (Link).

Dr Saba also writes about other medical experiences in his professional life. A patient who came to him who had been misdiagnosed and believed he was dying of cancer, a woman who had tried several treatments for cancer and was giving up, but is alive today because Dr Saba helped give her hope and more.

I personally found the book to be profound as Dr Saba shares stories and experiences in a well written human fashion. This book gives personal experiences as to why we must oppose killing.

We are Made to Live.

—Nancy Elliott
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA

"Dr. Paul Saba’s personal journey to save life demonstrates his caring heart not only for his family but all those around him in the world whom he considers part of his extended family. He recognizes assisted suicide and euthanasia are neither caring nor compassionate. "

— Dr. Gordon Macdonald
CEO, Care Not Killing, London, UK

"In Made to Live, Dr. Paul Saba has provided a timely reminder of the underlying principles of medicine, which are to heal, promote health, and alleviate suffering, and to resist the temptation of killing the patient. Outlining his personal, family, and professional struggles to resist pressure coming from within the medical profession to take human life rather than preserve and cherish it, he provides valuable insight into the dangers posed to true medicine by the corrupting influence of the spread of euthanasia and assisted suicide. With reference to the history of the euthanasia movement, he shows that it is fundamentally opposed to the principles of medicine."

—Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

"I consider Dr. Paul Saba to truly be a canary in the coal mine, alerting the world about the fatal flaws associated with euthanasia and assisted suicide.... This book is an incredible addition to the arsenal of data and stories upholding the value of human life and enunciating why killing people is not only bad public policy but simply wrong."

Purchase Made To Live from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for $25 + GST ($26.25)(includes shipping) (Link).

Book launch - Made To Live with Dr Paul Saba on September 15.

Dr Paul Saba is launching his book - Made To Live on September 15, 2020.

Alex Schadenberg is hosting the Zoom event featuring Dr Saba, who will speak about his new book.

Date: September 15, 2020

Time: 7:30 PM (Eastern Time).

Now that the event has happened. Here is a link to the video of the event (Link).

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

"Dr. Paul Saba’s personal journey to save life demonstrates his caring heart not only for his family but all those around him in the world whom he considers part of his extended family. He recognizes assisted suicide and euthanasia are neither caring nor compassionate. "

—Nancy Elliott
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA

"I consider Dr. Paul Saba to truly be a canary in the coal mine, alerting the world about the fatal flaws associated with euthanasia and assisted suicide.... This book is an incredible addition to the arsenal of data and stories upholding the value of human life and enunciating why killing people is not only bad public policy but simply wrong."

—Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

"In Made to Live, Dr. Paul Saba has provided a timely reminder of the underlying principles of medicine, which are to heal, promote health, and alleviate suffering, and to resist the temptation of killing the patient. Outlining his personal, family, and professional struggles to resist pressure coming from within the medical profession to take human life rather than preserve and cherish it, he provides valuable insight into the dangers posed to true medicine by the corrupting influence of the spread of euthanasia and assisted suicide. With reference to the history of the euthanasia movement, he shows that it is fundamentally opposed to the principles of medicine."

— Dr. Gordon Macdonald
CEO, Care Not Killing, London, UK