Kevin Dunn: A Tale of Two Films

By Kevin Dunn

Kevin Dunn in Guernsey

If someone told me that one day I would be travelling around the world to speak on euthanasia and assisted suicide I would have been hard pressed to believe them. I mean, who in their right mind would want to talk about death as a calling?
 
For most of my career, I was either in front of the camera entertaining —or behind it, producing films on things like dinosaurs, spies, entrepreneurs or modern history. However, as I began inching towards the age of 50 (I’m a young 54 as I write this) the subject matter for my films took a seismic shift towards social justice issues - and in particular, laws that imply that some lives are not worth living.

As I write this, I’m flying home from my 20th talk of 2019 - this time in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I call it my “Prophets of Hope” tour because I honestly believe that is where the solution lies. Each of us has to become a prophet of hope - a reason for someone’s tomorrow - especially in light of laws that tell others to give up on hope. For some reason, despite dire warnings from jurisdictions experienced with the cultural effects of euthanasia and assisted suicide, countries and states continue to enact laws that allow doctors to provide lethal injections or drugs to citizens who ‘qualify’ under certain criteria. What was once deemed unthinkable is now an option — and in many ways has become a subtle obligation —as fear of future suffering, losing autonomy or becoming a burden are among the top reasons why people request it.

In my recent film Fatal Flaws: Legalizing Assisted Death, I asked Dutch journalist Gerbert Van Loenen if there was anyone covering the other side of the euthanasia debate. He emphatically responded - ‘I’m afraid no one’. I found this especially alarming because the boundaries of the euthanasia law in the Netherlands are expanding to the point where even people who are ‘tired of life’ might get access to a lethal dose - legally - in the near future. I mean how could things have gone off the rails so badly that a civilized country would actually consider legalizing suicide for what would otherwise be diagnosed as depression and despair? Is it not bad enough that people are now asking for euthanasia at the first diagnosis of terminal illnesses? Where was the media in all of this? Journalists have not been doing their job. This is what inspired me to do more.
 

Alex Schadenberg & Kevin Dunn

Thankfully there are a handful of people who have been doing this issue justice - and one in particular for the past two decades: my friend Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition — a position he’s held for the past 20 years. Everywhere I speak, anytime I mention his name, Alex is known and respected. Even those who disagree with him have good things to say about his candour.

In November of 2015, I received an email from Alex asking me to create an information video which would educate people on these issues. He wanted to expose the risks associated with turning these previously criminal acts into some form of health care. Alex has been ringing the alarm bells since 1999, aware that the Kevorkian ideology was slowly trickling across the US border into Canada - and of the subtle but deadly introduction of language that was changing the act of murder into mercy killing; and assisted suicide into something called death with dignity.

With funding from the EPC, the information video quickly grew into a major documentary called The Euthanasia Deception produced by EPC and DunnMedia. The film took my crew and I through Belgium and various places in Canada where we found a plethora of underrepresented people who were waiting to tell their story on how these laws had deceived them. Patients, family members, medical professionals and ethicists all weighed in to paint a very grim picture of assisted dying laws.

Purchase the Fatal Flaws film (Link).
Purchase the Euthanasia Deception documentary (Link).

Just months after releasing The Euthanasia Deception, Alex and I heard about a strange phenomenon in the Netherlands called “Euthanasia Week”: an annual event of conferences, films and media interviews all geared at extolling the ‘virtue’ of Holland’s euthanasia law. This became one of the focal points for our next film, Fatal Flaws . It is now being screened and distributed internationally and won numerous awards.

Both films speak with authority because we hear stories from victims directly. As a filmmaker I know how important this is. I’ve seen first hand how the assisted death philosophy defines the person by their illness. This is absurd. We should never be defined by what malady assails us. We are defined by our worth as a created human being, deserving of the best care, the best pain management, the kind of dignity that says “I will walk with you and fight for you to the end - I will never abandon you by ending your life prematurely. As Mark Davis Pickup aptly noted in The Euthanasia Deception, “We should never judge tomorrow based on the fears of today.” Mark has lived with Multiple Sclerosis for over 30 years.

Margreet Van der Valk's mother

I am formalizing plans for a speaking tour in Australia in August. It would seem the land down under is quickly falling prey to the culture of abandonment which we have sadly embraced here in North America and in parts of Europe. I share the stories of those who bravely came forward on camera to tell me how these laws have taken them or their loved ones to the brink of death. Sadly, some are not living anymore - like 29 year old Aurelia Brouwers whose life was cut short by euthanasia for psychiatric reasons; Tom Mortier’s mother who was euthanized for depression; and Margreet Van der Valk’s mother who was euthanized without request . I carry these heartbreaking stories with me everywhere I speak.

At the end of my talks, people always ask me for one practical thing they can do to stem the tide. Yes, we must step up to inform our politicians and medical professionals of what these laws imply. Sharing these films are a great start. However we must do more. We must challenge ourselves daily to become a prophet of hope: the reason for someone’s tomorrow. It could be as simple as visiting elderly parents, volunteering to drive someone to the hospital or playing Scrabble for an hour with a senior in a nursing home. These are ways we inspire hope in others so they don’t reach for these laws.

It’s been quite a journey creating these films along with with Alex Schadenberg - a true Prophet of Hope for our times. Thanks, too for inspiring me to take this ‘show on the road’ and inspire others. You can be sure I’ll be toasting your 20th - perhaps from some Irish pub in the land down under!

Kevin Dunn can be reached through his Website: www.KevinDunn.info

Canada's Euthanasia Saves Millions (Dollars Not People)

This article was published by Mark Pickup on his HumanLifeMatters website on October 11, 2017

Mark Pickup with Kevin Dunn

By Mark Pickup

Prolific Canadian documentary film maker Kevin Dunn has embarked upon his latest production FATAL FLAWS. In conjunction with the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Mr. Dunn explores, amongst other things, the short step from physician assisted suicide to euthanasia.[1] This is exactly what is happening in Canada in the 14 months since physician assisted suicide became legal. 

• Fatal Flaws Film: The Candice Lewis Interview. Candice was pressured to die an assisted death.

More than 2,000 Canadians have died with medical assistance since 2015 (including Quebec).[2] Cancer represented 64% of assisted deaths, followed by circulatory/respiratory and neurodegenerative diseases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS).[3]

How did the numbers break down? (Excluding Québec, and the Territories) From June 17 - December 31, 2016, 507 people received medical assisted death, of which 503 were administered by doctors or nurse practitioners. Only 4 were self-administered suicides. From January 1st - June 30th 2017 there were 875 medically assisted deaths of which 874 were administered by a physician or nurse. One was self administered suicide. Of the 1,482 assisted death for the year, only 5 were self-administered suicides (0.0033%). In practice what Canada legalized in 2016 was not assisted suicide, it legalized euthanasia by another name.

What makes things worse is that pressures are starting to mount on sick and disabled people -- or their families -- to sign DNR orders or agree to euthanasia, and ideally organ donation.[4] Why might that be? There a number of reasons:

• There is a shortage of organs for transplantation.
• Up-to-date palliative care is an area of specialty in which many family doctors are not particularly skilled. 
• The last six months of life can be very expensive whereas euthanasia is cheap. 
• Some people with disabilities can be difficult, peevish and bothersome patients. They may require frequent and expensive hospitalization. Many do not get better.
• Hospitals and nursing homes are overcrowded and care for the sick is so expensive.

Could it be mere coincidence that 6 months after medical assisted death was legalized in Canada a study came out of the University of Calgary and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal heralding the cost savings of killing dying patients? Drs Aaron Trachtenburg and Braden Manns proclaimed it could save up to $139-million annually! Of course, they took pains to state they were not suggesting people be euthanized to save money. The illustrious doctors noted that 

"as death approaches, health care costs increase dramatically in the final months. Patients who choose medical assistance in dying may forego this resource-intensive period."[5] (How considerate of patients.)

Medical Assisted Suicide Is Disability Discrimination

This article was written by Mark Pickup and published on his blog on April 2, 2017.

Mark Pickup

In 2015, Canada’s Supreme Court struck down the nation’s laws against assisted suicide. It sent shock waves across the country: People opposed to legalization of assisted suicide were appalled the high court would do such a thing; advocates of assisted suicide were shocked that the court went so far – even beyond their fondest dreams. The foundation beneath the high court’s ruling was the new high ideal of personal autonomy. Apparently, in Canada, people now have a right to assisted suicide if they have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.”

The Supreme Court said that self-defined grievous and irremediable medical condition ”does not require the patient to undertake treatments that are not acceptable to the individual.” Everything hinges on the patient’s perceptions and feelings -- and they need not take treatments they don’t like.

Something significant happened to shake the historical taboo of killing the sick and disabled. More than 700 years of Common Law, that discouraged, prohibited or otherwise punished assisting someone’s suicide was brushed aside by one judicial decree.[1] How did this happen?

If the Supreme Court was to rule in favour of assisted suicide they had to confront a problem: The Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms – which acts as a constitution in Canada – states in Section 7 that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person …”. The judges’ had to suppress the ‘right to life’ and accentuate a false notion of liberty and emphasise ‘security of the person’. The problem with trying to suppress the right to life is that all other rights depend upon it. Liberty and security of the person become tenuous if the right to life is not guaranteed. Self-destruction eliminates liberty and assisting in a suicide is license, not liberty.

The Supremes paid obligatory but shallow homage to the concept of the sanctity of human life, then discounted the right to life in one paragraph. They wrote:

“…[W]e do not agree that the existential formulation of the right to life requires an absolute prohibition on assistance in dying, or that individuals cannot “waive” their right to life. This would create a “duty to live”, rather than a “right to life”, . . . The sanctity of life is one of our most fundamental societal values. Section 7 [of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms] is rooted in a profound respect for the value of human life. But Section 7 also encompasses life, liberty and security of the person during the passage to death. It is for this reason that the sanctity of life “is no longer seen to require all human life be preserved at all costs.”

Continuing in their cleaver distortion, the judges wrote: 

“Underlying both these rights [liberty and security of the person] is a concern for the protection of individual autonomy and dignity.” 

I do not believe the architects of the Canadian Charter envisioned a vehicle to autonomy and dignity included a right to suicide. The right to death is not mentioned in the Charter – the right to life is. Do you see how they were twisting things? They went on to say:

“The law has long protected patient autonomy in medical decision making.” 

Granted, but Canadian law has only recently sanctioned medical killing by assisted suicide or euthanasia.

The dramatic departure from legal and moral traditions went from the court to the Canadian Parliament and assisted suicide became legal in June 2016. The legislation (bill C-14) was enacted under the euphemistic and deceptive title “medical assistance in dying”. I used the words 'deceptive' because those who are eligible for ‘medical assistance in dying’ do not have to be dying. The odious new law defines grievous and irremediable medical conditions eligible for medical killing:

“A person has a grievous and irremediable medical condition only if they meet all of the following criteria:

(a) they have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability;
(b) they are in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capacity;
(c) that illness, disease or disability or that state of decline causes them enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and cannot be relieved under circumstances they consider acceptable; and
(d) their natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all their medical circumstances, without a prognosis having been made as to the specific length of time that they have remaining.”

In the first 6 months after the law passed, at least 744 Canadians received “medical assistance in dying”. There’s that deceptive euphemism again! Not all recipients were dying. According to Canadian reporter, Graham Slaughter, (what an apt name!) most of the patients have cancer, ALS or multiple sclerosis.[2] Multiple sclerosis is rarely terminal. Life expectancy for people with MS is only 7 years shorter than normal life expectancy. I have had MS for over 32 years. I use an electric wheelchair but I’m hardly dying. Medical assistance in dying becomes medical killing.

It should be noted that in 2012 Canada’s Parliament gave UNANIMOUS support to the idea of developing a National Suicide Prevention Strategy. In 2016 they legalised assisted suicide for people who are sick or disabled. So let me get this straight: Healthy and abled-bodied Canadians who become suicidal get suicide prevention support, sick and disabled suicidal Canadians get help killing themselves? Yup.

Disability advocates have fought to advance equality and inclusion for over 40 years. Canada’s assisted suicide legislation caused a severe setback to those goals. This did not go unnoticed in America. Many American disability groups oppose legalization of assisted suicide, including the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, and Not Dead Yet, just to mention a few. Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet commented on the Canada’s Supreme Court Decision:

“The Canadian Supreme Court ruling openly targets people with non-terminal disabilities … The Canadian high court’s holding is a shockingly blatant mandate of lethal discrimination based on disability and should be rejected outright by any human society.” [4]

Is the Canadian situation Supreme Court decision a harbinger of things to come across America? Medically assisted suicide (MAS) has been legalised in 6 states under various parameters. Someone may say that the disabled are not eligible for MAS in most states. Proponents of MAS refuse to acknowledge almost all the people dying under these laws are disabled.

Not Dead Yet asserts 

“assisted suicide violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by establishing a system of unlawful discrimination whereby most suicidal people, those who reveal their intentions, receive suicide prevention services, while old, ill and disabled people receive suicide assistance instead.” 

They’re right.

Old prejudices against the disabled have appeared again under the guise of death with dignity. Can you hear a chorus calling out from a multitude of disabled people, “Must we die to find dignity?” I hope not.

If there is dignity to be found, it is found in life.

Mark Pickup
____________________________________
[1] Paraphrase of Chief Justice William Rehnquist on assisted suicide, Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S.702(1997). http://www1.law.umkc.edu/academic/Spring2011/assignments/Washington%20v%20Glucksberg.pdf . Canadian and American law and legal traditions have deep roots in British Common Law, which dates back to the Middle Ages.

[2] Graham Slaughter, “At least 744 assisted deaths in Canada since law passed: CTV News analysis,” CTVNews.ca, 28 December 2016 (http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/at-least-744-assisted-deaths-in-canada-since-law-passed-ctv-news-analysis-1.3220382)

]3] See National Multiple Sclerosis Society website (http://www.nationalmssociety.org/About-the-Society/News/Study-Shows-Life-Expectancy-for-People-with-MS-Inc)

[4] Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake, “Statement of Not Dead Yet (USA) to Canadian Panel on Carter Case Decision”, 14 October 2015, (http://notdeadyet.org/statement-of-not-dead-yet-usa-to-canadian-panel-on-carter-case-decision)

The "Freedom To Choose" Goes Two Ways

This article was written by Mark Pickup and published on his blog on March 19, 2017.

Sharon Kirkey, 'Take my name off the list, I can't do any more' some doctors backing out of assisted death, National Post, 26 February 2017.

Nine months after Canada legalised medically assisted suicide (euphemistically and deceptively termed medical aid in dying). It seems many participating Canadian doctors are not comfortable murdering killing their patients. (See article above.) Assisted suicide proponents speculate it's because doctors' fear of prosecution or distaste for filling out associated paperwork. Yeah right. 

Could it be that deep within the human psyche there is a natural repugnance to killing people? Enforced 'progressive' groupthink still can't stifle every human conscience. 

Support doctors who have lost their stomach for killing human beings—whether it be abortion or assisted suicide. Encourage them to return to Hippocratic medicine. Support conscience rights that are supposedly protected in Article 2, FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS of the CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS:

"Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms (a) freedom of conscience and religion; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression..."

What is the point of having freedom of thought, belief or opinion without the ability to express it in word and behaviour? The freedom choice to be put to death is not the only right in Canada's Brave New World of tax-funded assisted suicide.
 
There must also be an equal right for medical professionals not to participate. Choice goes two ways.

The Euthanasia Deception documentary.

The Euthanasia Deception Documentary is available by ordering the DVD at info@epcc.ca or downloading it online at www.vulnerablefilm.com

“A thought-provoking, emotionally-gripping film that will impact hearts and minds. It effectively dismantles the fallacies of euthanasia proponents’ appeals to compassion and autonomy.” 

- Richard Weikart, Professor of History at California State University, Stanislaus, Author of The Death of Humanity: And the Case for Life.

“Stunning documentary. No doubt this film will save lives and prevent the destruction of a large number of families." 

- Anne LeBlanc, Rochester, NY

There are two ways to view The Euthanasia Deception.

Purchase a DVD from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition or View or download online at www.vulnerableflim.com

Purchase The Euthanasia Deception DVD for: $30 for 1 DVD, $100 for 4 DVD's or $200 for 10 DVD's (add HST to all orders).

Link to the trailer.

The Euthanasia Deception is also available to rent or purchase online at Vimeo On Demand. Detailed instructions: 

1. Go to the film’s Web site www.vulnerablefilm.com and click rent or download. 
2. Click "Rent or Download Here”. You will be directed to Vimeo On Demand. 
3. Scroll down and click on the version you wish: Canadian or International Version 
4. You will be asked to join Vimeo, a free service, with no obligation. 
5. You will be prompted to pay $3.00 CAD (or equivalent) for a 48 hour rental download or $30.00 to purchase a downloadable version of the film. Most credit cards or Paypal accepted.
6. Be sure to enter your email to receive updates. 
7. Enjoy the Euthanasia Deception documentary!

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) in association with DunnMedia is pleased to announce the International release of The Euthanasia Deception, complete with interactive website and resource materials at: www.vulnerablefilm.com. 

The fifty-two minute documentary features powerful testimonies from Belgium and Canada, exposing the three main deceptions used by the assisted dying lobby:

• Euthanasia & assisted suicide are falsely promoted as compassion or mercy.
• Euthanasia & assisted suicide are falsely promoted as a form of autonomy. 
• The myth that safeguards can protect people is exposed. 

The Euthanasia Deception documentary is also available to be ordered with French subtitles.

The Euthanasia Deception features; 

• Professor Tom Mortier, a Belgian man whose depressed mother died by euthanasia,
• Dr Catherine Dopchie, a palliative physician in Belgium,
• Dr Benoit Beusselinck, a Belgian oncologist and palliative care doctor in Belgium,
• Carine Brochier, the co-ordinator of the European Institute of Bioethics in Belgium,
• Professor Etienne Montero, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Namur Belgium,
• Hendrik Reitsma's grand-dad died an assisted death with no request in the Netherlands,
• Kristina Hodgetts, a nurse speaks about her experience with assisted death in Canada,
• Lionel Roosemont, a Belgian man who is the father of a significantly disabled child,
• Amy Hasbrouck, a lawyer and a disability rights leader in Québec Canada,
• Mark Pickup, a disability rights activist and public speaker in Alberta Canada,
• Steven Passmore, a disability rights activist in Ontario Canada,
• Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

We are all vulnerable at different times in our lives. This documentary is a dire warning for Canada and the rest of the world.

Your donations to EPC enable us to continue our commitment to resisting the acceptance of euthanasia while providing jurisdictions with data to prevent its legalization.

Purchase The Euthanasia Deception by (paying $30 + HST by credit card or paypal) or order by email: info@epcc.ca or call toll free: 1-877-439-3348.

New Documentary The Euthanasia Deception Challenges the Practice of Assisted Suicide.

The Euthanasia Deception - Promo from DunnMedia on Vimeo.

Media Release: Nashville Publicity Group.

The film explores Belgium’s 15-year experiment with euthanasia, the long-term implications of assisted dying laws and offers a dire warning for the rest of the world.

Order the Euthanasia Deception documentary. or buy the Euthanasia Deception documentary for $30 for 1 DVD / $100 for 4 DVD's or $200 for 10 DVD's (Link to purchase) or you can download the Euthanasia Deception documentary for purchase or rental (link).

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 — (NASHVILLE, Tennessee)

The Euthanasia Deception, a one-hour documentary that explores Belgium’s 15 year experiment with euthanasia, will be available on September 12th. This thought-provoking, emotionally gripping film is a dire warning for the rest of the world, featuring powerful testimonies from Belgium and beyond of those devastated by the false ideology of ‘mercy killing.’

The film exposes three main deceptions of assisted suicide. First, that euthanasia and assisted suicide are a form of compassion. The second is the myth of autonomy: that decisions made between doctor and patient operate in a vacuum. And finally, that government ‘safeguards’ can truly protect the vulnerable.

With expert analysis from both medical and legal professions, The Euthanasia Deception reveals the serious, long-term implications of assisted suicide laws, and proves that all of us become vulnerable when end-of-life care is handed over to lawmakers.

Numerous people whose lives have been affected by euthanasia and assisted suicide are interviewed for the film, including: Professor Tom Mortier, whose depressed mother was euthanized without his knowledge; “Hendrick,” whose grandfather’s death was hastened without request; “James,” who regrets family pressure to euthanize his mother; “Lionel,” who is asked by Belgian strangers why he will not euthanize his severely disabled daughter; “Mark,” an MS survivor, grateful that there was no law allowing him to die by assisted suicide when he was diagnosed; and “Kristina,” a nurse who shares her remorseful experience with assisted death.

The release of The Euthanasia Deception marks the launch of CaringNotKilling.com, a new global resistance movement that utilizes the power of film and social media to combat and resist the acceptance of euthanasia while providing jurisdictions with data to resist its legalization. It is also dedicated to providing support and assistance to through Compassionate Community Care services - to help people who need advice concerning medical treatment issues or need protection from euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The Euthanasia Deception is directed by Kevin Dunn and produced by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in association with DunnMedia & Entertainment and supported by thousands of like-minded organizations and individuals throughout the world.

Watch the official trailer at http://vulnerablefilm.com/trailer

Visit the official website at www.vulnerablefilm.com.

My Deep Sadness This Canada Day

This article was published by Mark Pickup on his blog on July 1, 2016.

Mark Pickup

July 1st is Canada Day, in celebration of Canada becoming a nation on this date in 1867. While the rest of Canada whoops it up, the nation's sick and disabled have reason to fear.

I am filled with deep sadness. I feel like a stranger in the country where I was born and have lived all my 63 years. A few weeks ago, Canada passed a law sanctioning physician assisted suicide for suicidal sick and disabled citizens. Canada believes that other Canadians deserve suicide prevention counselling. I know this because in October of 2012, parliament gave unanimous support (including our current Prime Minister) to the idea of a national suicide prevention strategy. Four years later they pass a law for assisted suicide for suicidal sick and disabled Canadians.

Mark Pickup

What did that say to me as an incurably ill and disabled Canadian? It said that the government of Canada and the Supreme Court see healthy and able-bodied citizens as worth more than people like me. Of course the government elites and media would not come right out and say that. After all, Canadians are polite people even though Canada would help me kill myself. I am reminded of Winston Churchill's comment: "After all, when you have kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."

The self-congratulatory indulgence of the nation today is not for me. I will stay home.

Yesterday, my friend and former parliamentarian David Kilgour posted a link on his Facebook page with a link to an article entitled "Canada ranked as second best country in the world". I commented: "That is, if you are not disabled and suicidal." A woman responded: "What an ignorant comment - not even remotely funny." Actually, madam, what is ignorant is that Canada would sanction assisted suicide, and I was not trying to be funny."

I was expressing my deep sadness on this Canada Day. This patriot has been alienated from protections against killing myself should I sink beneath the waves of my circumstance and become suicidal. My country will not throw me a life-jacket. It will push me further down under a misguided idea of personal autonomy.

Mark Pickup: The problem with assisted suicide.

Disability activist, Mark Pickup was interviewed for the documentary The Euthanasia Deception that will be released in June.

Mark Pickup

Mark Pickup was diagnosed with MS at the age of 30. Mark explains that at the 2 - 3 year point, with MS, that his grief was so deep that he would have considered euthanasia. Mark is happy to be alive.

Watch and share this short Youtube video of Mark Pickup.

The Mark Pickup segment is a short promo video for The Euthanasia Deception a documentary that exposes what euthanasia laws can do to a country’s culture. Heart-wrenching testimonies along with medical, legal and expert analysis reveal the sad truth about euthanasia and assisted dying: all of us become vulnerable when life and death matters are handed over to lawmakers and doctors.

The initiative is being produced by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in association with DunnMedia & Entertainment is made possible through the support of generous donors like you.

Donations to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition will enable the completion of this documentary which is still in production. (Donation link)

Link to the documentary promo The Euthanasia Deception

For more information:
www.vulnerablefilm.com
facebook.com/vulnerablefilim
@vulnerablefilm

Contact the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Box 25033 London ON N6C 6A8
info@epcc.ca or 1-877-439-3348

Mark Pickup: Euthanizing Canada

This article was published by Mark Pickup on his blog on December 18.

Supreme Court of Canada

By Mark Pickup

2016 will see the beginning of a new dark chapter for Canada. Killing off the sick and disabled will receive official government sanction. As you may know, in a UNANIMOUS decision Canada's Supreme Court struck down the nation's laws against assisted suicide and gave the federal government a year to put in place parameters for physician imposed death within a new legal framework.

What parameters?! It's going to be wide open season on the sick, disabled and depressed. In the high court's low decision they declared laws against assisted suicide to be "void insofar as they prohibit physician-assisted death for a competent adult person who (1) clearly consents to the termination of life; and (2) has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition. "Irremediable" it should be added, does not require the patient to undertake treatments that are unacceptable to the individual."

Translation: It's wide open euthanasia and assisted suicide beginning in 2016. Guidelines will be a ruse, mere formalities to give an air of respectability to murder.

Mark Pickup with Kevin Dunn

Recently I was interviewed by the documentary filmmaker Kevin Dunn as we await Canada's Brave New World to come into its full and hideous bloom. What did I say? I said that by definition civilized, and enlightened societies never endorse or support killing its citizens -- especially those you have despaired of life and are vulnerable to suicide.

Civilized people certainly don't help the suicidal kill themselves. Autonomy is a myth. If I choose suicide it doesn't affect me alone. It will affect my wife, children and grandchildren. It will affect my physician because I will ask her to stop being my healer and become my killer. And in a small way it will impact my nation by helping to further entrench the notion there is such a thing as a life unworthy to be lived. No matter how sick I become I still have a responsible to others, the Common Good and posterity.

You can't have unfettered autonomy and interdependent community too. They are diametrically opposite ideas. You can't have both. You must choose which it shall be.

Canada post-2016 will not only kill its sick and disabled, it may well kill the collective conscience of a nation and gut its soul.

For interviews or bookings to speak contact Mark at HumanLifeMatters@shaw.ca

A disabled man's plea to Canada's new Prime Minister about Assisted Suicide.

This letter was written by Mark Pickup and published on his blog on October 31, 2015

The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
OTTAWA, Ontario K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister:

Supreme Court ruling for assisted suicide

Mark Pickup

I am writing to plead with you to invoke the notwithstanding clause of  the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms and override the monstrous Supreme Court decision to strike down the nation’s law against assisted suicide. It will be consistent with your previous support for a National Suicide Prevention Strategy that received unanimous support of Parliament in October of 2012. The high court’s odious decision threatens to set back advances in disability inclusion forty years that I and others have fought hard to gain.

I have been incurably ill with aggressive multiple sclerosis (MS) for more than thirty years. Its degenerative nature gradually stripped me of physical function from being healthy and athletic to living in an electric wheelchair. If assisted suicide had been available during the mid-1980s I might have opted for it at a low point. I’m so glad I did not seek out a Jack Kevorkian. I never would have known my grandchildren. You see, Prime Minister, quality of life changes. What gave my life quality in 1984 is not what gives my life quality in 2015. Physical function is not so important to me anymore; it is love that brings quality to my life now: To love and be loved. 

You did the right thing in 2012 by supporting a national suicide prevention strategy. Do the right thing again and invoke the notwithstanding clause, even though it will be unpopular. A national suicide prevention strategy must be for all Canadians, not just the healthy. Support increased emphasis on palliative medicine in medical schools and nursing programs across the country.

Thank you for reading and considering my letter. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

I am, Sir,
Yours very truly,
Mark Davis Pickup

The First National Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is May 2 - 3, 2014 in Minneapolis Minnesota.

The First National Symposium on EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE is Friday & Saturday May 2 - 3, 2014 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Minneapolis Minnesota.


Groups that oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia need to send representatives and concerned individuals need to attend this historic conference.

Link to the registration information.

Speakers: Alex Schadenberg (Euthanasia Prevention Coalition), Bobby Schindler (Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network), Julie Grimstad - (Life is Worth Living), Nancy Elliott (former New Hampshire representative / EPC - International), Cristen Krebs (Catholic Hospice), Ryan Verret (Louisiana Center for Medical Ethics), Tim Rosales (Wayne Johnston agency - public affairs), Mary Kellett (Prenatal Partners for Life), Mark Pickup (Disability speaker).

• Coalition Building seminar - May 2 (1 - 5 pm) ($30 registration) or
• Patient Advocacy Training - May 2 (1 - 5 pm) ($20 registration)

• First National Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide May 2 - 3.
May 2 (7 - 9 pm) May 3 (9 am - 5 pm) ($50 registration - includes Saturday lunch).

Link to the registration information.

Book your room at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 1330 Industrial Blvd., Minneapolis Minnesota for $85.00 per night by calling: 612-331-1900.


• Learn how to oppose the legalization of assisted suicide. 
• Learn how Stealth Euthanasia may effect you and your family.
• Become a trained and effective leader.

The First National Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is co-sponsored by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and Human Life Alliance.

Disabled Woman Seeks Euthanasia/Organ Donation

This article was written by Wesley Smith and published on his blog on August 14, 2013.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley Smith

I have been warning against coupling assisted suicide with organ harvesting since 1993, when I wrote my first anti-assisted suicide column in Newsweek. From, “The Whispers of Strangers:”

Life is action and reaction, the proverbial pebble thrown into the pond. We don’t get to the Brave New World in one giant leap. Rather, the descent to depravity is reached by small steps. First, suicide is promoted as a virtue. Vulnerable people like Frances become early casualties. Then follows mercy killing of the terminally ill. From there, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to killing people who don’t have a good “quality” of life, perhaps with the prospect of organ harvesting thrown in as a plum to society.

And now, a Michigan woman wants just that. From the Fox Detroit story:

16 years ago this week, Sherri Muzher was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that has robbed her of a life she always hoped to have, and now in its final stages making her a hostage of her own body. However, this 43-year-old still wants to give something back.”We’re all here on earth to make a difference,” she said.  

Homebound and now living in Flat Rock, the law school graduate and avid writer can no longer use her skills she once thrived on, but she believes she can still help others. That’s why she wants to end her life and donate her organs. “It would be a nice legacy to give life,” Muzher said.

Notice the article’s headline was written, “terminally ill woman” wants suicide and organ donation. That designation seeks to make the request more palatable. The more accurate headline would have been, “Disabled Michigan Woman Has Controversial Wish,” 

My good friend Mark Pickup experienced a similar trajectory–a catastrophic MS attack and a desire for suicide. But he emerged from the darkness and is now a disability rights/pro life activist and Catholic apologist. None of that would probably be true had assisted suicide been available to him back in his days of despair.

Think it can’t happen here? There have already been cases of suicides coupled with a request for organ donation. As I have written, the organ transplant community should publicly state that committing suicide precludes one from becoming an organ donor.

That isn’t public policy here, of course. But Belgium explicitly permits legal euthanasia coupled with organ harvesting, usually of people with neuromuscular diseases such as that of Ms. Muzher.

I can’t think of anything more dangerous to a moral society than giving disabled people the belief that their deaths are better for the world than their lives. Well, perhaps one thing: Convincing wider society to accept the premise.

Providing Supports to Live with Dignity

The following article was written by Mark Pickup and published on his Human Life Matters blog under the title: Providing Supports To Live With Dignity.

Mark Pickup

Mark Pickup - June 10, 2013

In my little corner of the world (Alberta, Canada) there is a issue of government cutbacks to support services for people with severe disabilities that is currently raging. Disabled Albertans feel threatened -- and with good reason. Many of the support services that will be cut provide personal daily care that will directly impact  the ability of seriously disabled people to function and live in their communities and participate in society.

Heidi Janz

For instance, I know a highly educated woman with severe cerebral palsy. She has so much to offer the world but needs physical support services to do it. Her name is Heidi Janz. Recently, Dr. Janz wrote a letter to the Edmonton Journal newspaper articulating what a lose of flexible supports, tailored to her needs, will mean to her. She stated:

"...this flexible support has made it possible for me  to work as a professor at the University of Alberta, travel and speak at conferences and so on. The demise of this support service will, in effect, herald the end of my active career." 

Dr. Janz has so much to give to our community but she needs some help because of cerebral palsy. She's not asking for much and it's not much to provide when we consider that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Support services to people with disabilities enables them to pursue careers, hold down jobs, go to school or volunteer in their communities. What will happen without proper levels of support? Dr. Janz states bluntly "We will again become isolated."

Is Dr. Janz exaggerating to make a point? I don't think so. People with disabilities in Canada have fought hard for more than three decades for the ideal of inclusion within society. Each gain has been hard-won. Getting flexible supports for daily living and home care are a critically important component to full inclusion and life with dignity.

For those of us who have fought against acceptance of assisted suicide -- falsely promoted as death with dignity -- we know that proper supports and care for people who are chronically ill or disabled are an important component in countering the superficial allure of the death with dignity mindset. 

Granted, there are many other aspects to living with dignity that touch on the emotional and spiritual components of the human condition ... but the practical side of life is important too. Support services may include assistance for dressing, eating, bathing, cleanliness and house-keeping, range of motion exercises, etc. Home care brings medical care to people in their homes.

What's happening to disabled people in my corner of the world is not unique. It's important that Life advocates everywhere help people with serious chronic illnesses and disabilities get and keep flexible and timely supports and care services. Make no mistake about it: It is an important part of successfully resisting euthanasia and assisted suicide pressures.

Life with dignity has many aspects. Life advocates must champion them all. Please work in your area to make sure they are in place.

MDP