Canadian got MAID for post-Covid-vax syndrome

A committee reviewing Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program has reported on an Ontario man who was euthanized for "post-vaccination syndrome."

Ontario man granted euthanasia for controversial 'post COVID-19 vaccination syndrome' | Fort McMurray Today | Sharon Kirkey:

October 24, 2024 - "An Ontario man in his late 40s with a history of mental illness died by euthanasia after his assisted death assessors decided that the most reasonable explanation for his physical decline was a post COVID-19 'vaccination syndrome'....  The term is controversial — Canada’s current vaccine reporting system for adverse events doesn’t include 'post-vaccine syndrome' — and multiple specialists consulted before his death couldn’t agree on a diagnosis, raising questions as to whether the man’s condition met the criteria for an 'irremediable,' meaning a hopeless, incurable condition.

"The anonymized case is one of several highlighted in a series of reports issued by a 16-member MAID death review committee struck by Ontario’s chief coroner’s office in January. Identified as 'Mr. A,' the man experienced 'suffering and functional decline” following three vaccinations for SARS-CoV-2. He also suffered from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and personality disorders, and, “while navigating his physical symptoms,” was twice admitted to hospital, once involuntarily, with thoughts of suicide.

"'Amongst his multiple specialists, no unifying diagnosis was confirmed,' according to the report. However, his MAID assessors 'opined that the most reasonable diagnosis for Mr. A’s clinical presentation (severe functional decline) was a post-vaccine syndrome, in keeping with chronic fatigue syndrome.' There were no 'pathological findings' at a post-mortem that could identify any underlying physiological diagnosis, though people’s experiences can’t be discounted just because medicine can’t find what’s wrong with them....

"Details in the reports are limited. A spokesperson from the coroner’s office said members of the MAID death review committee cannot discuss particulars about cases mentioned due to confidentiality and respect for the families involved. According to their report, 'only a small number of MAID deaths in Ontario have identified concerns,' and the deaths selected 'are chosen for the ability to generate discussion, thought and considerations for practice improvement'....

"Rare conditions can occur after vaccination that can have 'life-altering consequences,' said McMaster University immunologist Dawn Bowdish. Serious vaccine side effects generally appear within two weeks after the first, and more rarely, second dose of a vaccine, she said....

"A chronic post-vaccine syndrome remains controversial. A rapid review paper prepared by WorkSafeBC, a worker’s compensation company, found no published data supporting the development of chronic fatigue syndrome post mRNA COVID vaccination. 

"However, in a preprint study published last year that had not yet gone through peer-review, 241 adults who responded to an online survey reported ongoing symptoms after a COVID vaccination, such as excessive fatigue, brain fog and pain, numbness and tingling in different parts of the body. Most received mRNA vaccines. Led by doctors at the Yale School of Medicine, the researchers cautioned that vaccines against COVID 'have saved many lives,' and that the symptoms could be unrelated to the shots, occurring by chance. However, the clustering of symptoms within the first one to 18 days from vaccination 'suggests a potential relationship,' they reported.

"The study had limitations, including that people self-reported symptoms. Bowdish said she does not want to discount people’s experiences, but that with self-reported data 'it’s impossible to validate that they were vaccinated,' and infection with COVID can cause similar lingering symptoms, she said."

Read more: https://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/health/ontario-man-euthanasia-post-covid-19-vaccination-syndrome

Post-vac syndrome: 'There is no such thing as a vaccine without side effects' | DW News | June 12, 2023:

Parliament not forced by courts to legalize MAiD for mental illness, say law professors

Last year several law professors penned an open letter to the Canadian cabinet, challenging the government narrative that it is forced by court decisions to expand Medical Assistance in Dying [MAiD] to the mentally ill.   

Parliament is not forced by the courts to legalize MAID for mental illness: Law Professors' Letter to Cabinet | University of Toronto Law Library blog | Trudo Lemmens:

February 2, 2023 - "Justice Minister David Lametti announced today the introduction of a bill which would delay by one year, until March 2024, the scheduled implementation of MAID for sole reasons of mental illness. Until today, the federal government had repeatedly suggested it was bound by 'the courts' to expand MAID and to make MAID also available for persons whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness.... With some colleagues of other law faculties, we drafted a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, Ministers Lametti, Duclos, Qualtrough and Bennett, to challenge this problematic and in our view unfounded rhetoric of  'our hands are tied by the courts'. We urge the government to take the time 'to conduct a serious, inclusive, and evidence-based re-evaluation of the appropriateness of expanding MAiD' and 'to suspend this implementation'.... Here is [an extract from] the letter.... 

"We disagree as law professors that providing access to MAiD for persons whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness is constitutionally required, and that Carter v Canada AG[1] created or confirmed a constitutional right to suicide, as Minister Lametti has repeatedly stated. Our Supreme Court has never confirmed that there is a broad constitutional right to obtain help with suicide via health-care provider ending-of-life.....

"First, the Supreme Court explicitly stated in Carter, after hearing evidence from allegedly problematic euthanasia cases in Belgium, that 'euthanasia for minors or persons with psychiatric disorders or minor medical conditions' would 'not fall within the parameters suggested in these reasons'.[2] The Court further emphasized that '[t]he scope of [its] declaration is intended to respond to the factual circumstances in this case' and that it made “no pronouncement on other situations where physician-assisted dying may be sought.”[3]....  The trial court in Carter further explicitly stated that it is 'problematic to conflate decision-making by grievously and irremediably ill persons about the timing of their deaths, with decision-making about suicide by persons who are mentally ill or whose thinking processes are affected by substance abuse, trauma or other such factors.'[4]  

"Second, while the Alberta Court of Appeal decision in Canada (A.G.) v E.F.,[5] and the Quebec Superior Court decision in Truchon v Canada AG,[6] interpreted Carter as not excluding (MAiD for) mental illness, they did not rule on the constitutionality of a legislative exemption for mental illness. Moreover, these decisions are not binding in other provinces, and were not appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada or the Quebec Court of Appeal respectively.....  The case can therefore hardly be invoked as a precedent confirming the constitutional need to legalize MAiD for mental illness.

"With respect to the Truchon decision, the plaintiffs were not requesting MAiD based on mental illness, and any comments by the trial judge about MAiD for sole reasons of mental illness should be considered obiter dicta.  We note that Minister Lametti’s decision as Attorney General not to appeal Truchon and to simply amend the legislation was unprecedented.

"In the absence of binding precedent, it is premature to argue that the Charter requires access to MAiD for persons whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness. It is in our view also reckless to suggest that a constitutional right to MAiD should and would be recognized by our Supreme Court when there has been no meaningful review of the evidence suggesting that psychiatrists can predict for whom mental illness will be irremediable, the impact on suicide prevention, the impact on the health care and lived experience of persons experiencing mental illness, and the challenge of balancing access to MAiD with the protection of the life of those who are otherwise not approaching their natural death. In fact, there is for that reason on the contrary a strong argument to be made that the Charter requires adequate and equal protection against premature death of all persons with disabilities....

"For all these reasons, we strongly object to suggestions that MAiD for mental illness needs to be made available as a matter of constitutional right, and support a suspension and review, not just a delay, of further expansion of MAiD."

Read more: https://www.law.utoronto.ca/blog/faculty/letter-federal-cabinet-about-governments-legal-claims-related-maid-mental-illness

-----------------------------------------------------------

1. Carter v Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5
2. Ibid. at para 111.
3. Ibid. at para 127.
4. Carter v Canada, 2012 BCSC 886 at para 814
5. Canada (Attorney General) v EF, 2016 ABCA 155
6. Truchon c Procureur Général du Canada, 2019 QCCS 3792

Should MAiD apply to those whose sole condition is mental illness? | theZoomer TV | April 3, 2023: 

Canada delays assisted dying rollout to mentally ill

Justice Minister David Lametti says delay to 2024 is necessary because 'safety of Canadians just comes first' | CBC News - Peter Zimonjic 

February 2, 2023 - "The Liberal government is introducing legislation to delay by one year the expansion of the medically assisted death (MAID) law to cover those suffering solely from a mental illness ... Justice Minister David Lametti said Thursday.... Lametti said the delay will allow ongoing studies of the risks of extending MAID to this group of people to be completed....

"The government passed MAID legislation in 2016. The Superior Court of Quebec struck the law down in 2019 because it was limited to those whose deaths were 'reasonably foreseeable.' Bill C-7, which passed Parliament in March 2021, removed that requirement, in line with the court's ruling. The legislation also temporarily pushed out the expansion of MAID to cases involving only mental illness to March 2023.... 

"Lametti said the extension will also give the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying time to complete its final report on MAID for those suffering solely from mental illness. The committee delivered an interim report in June of last year, which concluded that it was racing against the clock to get its recommendations published in time for the expansion of MAID legislation.

'Although some work is already underway … there is concern that more remains to be done to ensure that all necessary steps have been taken to be ready by the March 2023 deadline,' the interim report said. 

"Mental illness" in the new legislation refers to conditions that are primarily psychiatric, such as depression and personality disorders. It doesn't cover neurocognitive or neurodevelopmental disorders, or related conditions. People with neurodegenerative diseases that lead to dementia can qualify under current rules for MAID, officials said.

"If Bill C-39 is not passed by March 17 of this year, MAID for people solely suffering from mental illness will become law in Canada. The legislation cannot be passed after that date because the two-year time limit will have ended. Lametti said he's confident the legislation will pass in time and has already secured the assistance of the NDP and the Bloc in the House of Commons....

"Conservative MP Michael Cooper called for the expansion of MAID to be scrapped. Later, in the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also condemned the expansion to MAID in 2024."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/maid-delay-solely-mental-illness-1.6734686

Canadian psychiatrists urge delay in offering the mentally ill medical assistance in dying

Citing a need to develop guidelines, standards, and training, psychiatrists are urging the Canadian government to delay the rollout of its Medical Assistance in Dying program to the "incurable" mentally ill, scheduled to begin in March.

Delay assisted dying for people with mental disorders: psychiatrist association | National Post - Camille Bains, Canadian Press: 

December 1, 2022 - "Canada is not ready to expand medical assistance in dying for people with a mental disorder, leaving psychiatrists across the country 'incredibly concerned' about patients needing better access to care, including for addiction services, says a group representing the specialists across the country. The Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada, which includes heads of psychiatry departments at all 17 medical schools, issued a statement Thursday calling for a pause to the change set to be implemented in mid-March.

"Lack of public education on suicide prevention as well as an agreed-upon definition of irremediability, or at what point someone will not be able to recover, are also important, unresolved issues, the statement says.

“'As a collective organization, we recognize that a lot of work is being done in Canada on this issue,' Dr. Valerie Taylor, who heads the group, said in the statement. 'Further time is required to increase awareness of this change and establish guidelines and standards to which clinicians, patients and the public can turn to for more education and information,' said Taylor, who is also chair of the psychiatry department at the University of Calgary.

"A statement from the office of federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada is committed to implementing MAID for those with a mental disorder by keeping their safety and security at the forefront.... The office did not say whether the implementation expected on March 17 would be delayed.

"Dr. Jitender Sareen, head of the psychiatry department at the University of Manitoba, said many controversial issues were discussed at the group’s annual meeting in October regarding which patients with a mental disorder could be eligible for MAID, seven years after the practice was legalized in Canada for those with a physical ailment. 'If a person wants MAID solely for mental health conditions, we don’t have the clear standards around definitions of who’s eligible. How many assessments and what kinds of assessment would they actually need?' he said. Sareen also called for training for health providers doing the assessments to begin sooner than its expected rollout next fall....

“'We’re in the middle of an opioid epidemic. And we’re in the middle of a mental health pandemic. Post-COVID, wait times for access to treatment are the highest ever,' he said. 'As a group of department heads in the country who are responsible for medical education both for psychiatrists and residents, we’re saying, "Look, let’s put things aside as far as whether we agree with this law change or not.’ We’re just concerned we’re not ready for March.”'....

"The federal parliamentary committee reviewing the law to expand MAID to those with a mental disorder issued an interim report in June and expected to publish a final report in October. However, it has been delayed until February. The final report of an expert panel was released in May with 19 recommendations, including training for doctors and nurse practitioners assessing MAID requests to address topics like the impact of race, socioeconomic status and cultural sensitivity."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-should-pause-maid-for-people-with-mental-disorders-psychiatrists?amp;amp

Veteran who needed stairlift offered death instead

A disabled veteran and former Paralympian was having difficulties in getting help from Veterans Affairs Canada (VA) to to get a wheelchair stairlift. So a resourceful VA staffer offered the veteran assisted suicide instead.

Disabled Canadian Army veteran Paralympian blasts government for offering to EUTHANIZE her when she complained about how long it was taking to install stairlift at her home | Daily Mail - Keith Griffith:

December 3, 2022 - "A disabled veteran in Canada has slammed her govern ment for offering to euthanize her when she grew frustrated at delays in having a wheelchair lift installed in her home. Retired Army Corporal Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian, testified in Parliament on Thursday that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker made the assisted suicide offer. 

"After years of frustrating delays in getting the home lift, Gauthier says the caseworker told her: 'Madam, if you are really so desperate, we can give you medical assistance in dying now.' The worker who made the offer hasn't been named, but they are feared to have offered three other veterans who contacted VAC with problems the same 'solution', Global News reported. The scandal emerged a week after Canada's veterans affairs minister confirmed that at least four other veterans were similarly offered access to Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law in response to their troubles....

"Gauthier said that she has been seeking VAC assistance in getting a chairlift for her home since 2017. 'It has isolated me greatly, because I have to crawl down [on] my butt with the wheelchair in front of me to be able to access my house,' she told Global News. She said she was shocked by the offer of suicide from the caseworker, which came in a conversation in 2019. 'I was like, "I can't believe that you will … give me an injection to help me die, but you will not give me the tools I need to help me live,"' she said. 'It was really shocking to hear that kind of comment.' 

"Gauthier was injured in an Army training accident in 1989, suffering permanent damage to her knees and her spine. She competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games and Prince Harry's 2016 Invictus Games as a canoeist, power-lifter, and indoor rower. 

"Gauthier's testimony, and reports of other similar cases, have drawn public outcry, and [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau vowed to make changes. 'I have said repeatedly that this is absolutely unacceptable, and as soon as we heard about this we took action,' Trudeau said in Vancouver on Friday. 'We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying,' he said.

"Medically assisted suicide was first legalized in Canada for terminally ill patients in 2016, but last year, the law expanded to offer euthanasia to patients whose natural death is not believed to be imminent. Now, people with long-term disabilities can also receive medical assistance in dying. Last year more than 10,000 people in Canada died by euthanasia. Starting next year, a new law will allow people suffering from mental illness, which had not previously be[en] a qualifying condition, to receive medically assisted suicide.... 

"One doctor told DailyMail.com that he is worried about the expansion, as it will turn suicide into a standard treatment for mental health conditions with little oversight or guidelines. Dr Trudo Lemmens, University of Toronto professor of health law and policy, told DailyMail.com that the system might create an 'obligation to introduce [suicide] as a part of' mental health treatment. 'Imagine that being applied in the context of mental health. You have a person suffering severe depression, seeks help from a therapist and is offered the solution of dying,' he continued.

"He fears that vulnerable patients who aren't in the right state of mind could be convinced suicide is a reasonable option. Dr Lemmens called the entire system a 'perverted concept of autonomy'. There are already signs the system is failing some Canadians, with reports of people receiving approval for assisted suicides for diabetes or homelessness."

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11497589/Paraplegic-Canadian-veteran-says-government-caseworker-offered-euthanasia.html 

Bill C-7 expands medically assisted dying

As more Canadians opt for medical assistance in dying (MAiD), Canada's Bill C-7 expands the criteria so that more can qualify. Provincial government could save as much as $150 billion.

'Canada is very ill-prepared for the future': Medical Assistance in Dying for people with mental illnesses has left experts worried | Yahoo News Canada - Abhya Adlakha:

December 2, 2022 - "Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was legalized in Canada in 2016. In light of the Carter decision, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) struck down the sections in the Criminal Code that prohibited assisting a person to die..... However, after the Truncheon case challenged the constitutionality of death being 'reasonably foreseeable” ... Bill C-7 [was passed] in March 2021. 

"The Bill ... expands who can ask for assisted death.... Before, only those whose death was naturally foreseeable — called 'Track One' patients — qualified for medically assisted death.... The new law allows patients whose death is not reasonably foreseeable to qualify for MAiD — 'Track Two' patients — given that the new safeguards in place are met. For instance, track two patients require a minimum 90-day assessment period. The second biggest change introduced by Bill C-7 is that people suffering solely from grievous and irremediable mental illnesses also qualify for MAiD now. The law comes into effect on Mar. 14, 2023. The recent rise in cases of vulnerable people seeking MAiD in Canada in the last few months has left experts worried as they think the expanded legislation will only make matters worse.

"According to Dr. Kerry Bowman, a Canadian bioethicist and conservationist, the Tier Two applications are surfacing much deeper ethical questions than previously asked. 'Some of the factors that are now driving requests for medical assistance in dying are not medical—they're social, cultural, and political factors,' Bowman said. 'I don't mean to sound smug, but I saw this coming; it's getting very complicated. And once a government takes the position that some lives may not be worth living, it's a very hard position to hold in terms of justice.' Dr. Sonu Gaind, Chief of Psychiatry at Humber River Hospital and a member of the World Psychiatric Association, agrees.... 'I'm not a conscientious objector of MAiD, but I actually personally feel that the expansion is irresponsible,' Gaind said. 'Part of the reason I'm concerned about this is that what MAiD initially came in for, it's now drastically changing to become something else — and most people are unaware of that.'

"In April, the case of a 51-year-old was reported by CTV News — she had opted for medical euthanasia because her housing benefits didn't allow her to get better housing which didn't aggravate her crippling allergies to chemicals. Another disabled woman applied for MAiD because she couldn't 'afford to live'. A few months ago, another woman experiencing long-COVID symptoms for two years applied for medical euthanasia because her illness didn't qualify for the Ontario Disability Benefit Program (ODSP). She stated publicly that MAiD was exclusively 'a financial consideration' for her — she couldn't afford to live without support....

La Maison Simons ad "All is Beauty" - Nov. 22, 2022

"The expert panel on MAiD and mental illness submitted their final report on May 13, 2022 and a list of 19 recommendations were made.... For starters, it was recommended by the board that establishing incurability and irreversibility should be done on a “case-by-case basis” by looking at the treatment history for each patient.... Dr. Gaind believes that this recommendation is shocking. 'They have essentially said that it’s not possible to define the number of treatments or the length or the type of treatment that someone should have before getting psychiatric euthanasia — there’s lack of standards and a lack of evidence, and this is pretty concerning,' Gaind believes. 'So now you have some doctors who set the bar too low for what’s 'incurable' and some who won’t administer MAiD because they believe something else — what that opens up is assessments that are completely arbitrary based on individual ideology. That's not medicine'....

"Another recommendation by the board states that MAiD assessors should understand that personal suffering is a subjective experience and that it should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The patient also has the right to autonomy and refuse any interventions they do not wish to receive.... 'What drives the system here is the concept of autonomy, the personal choice of an individual and that’s very good. It’s a wonderful thing, but the downside of it is that now we’ve got people making requests because of poverty, housing, and structural vulnerability,' Dr. [Bowman] says. Dr. Gaind agrees ... and strongly believes that ... the idea of autonomy in such cases is also misleading and deceptive.... 'MAiD is meant for something where there is medical evidence that a condition will not get better — and that is complete deception when making predictions of irremediability for mental illness. Evidence shows that predictions of irremediability cannot be made in cases of mental illness!' Gaind added....

"In a scathing article on Canada’s decision to allow medical euthanasia in The Spectator, Yuan Yi Zhu pointed out Canada’s eye on the savings Bill C-7 would create for the government. According to Zhu, although the Canadian government insisted that assisted suicide is about 'individual autonomy', the country’s Parliamentary Budget Officer published a fiscal report about the costs savings Bill C-7 would create. The report mentioned that Bill C-14 (the original MAiD legislation) would save the provincial governments almost $87 million, while the expanded Bill C-7 would save the governments a further $62 million — a total of $149 million.... 'The system says it’s saving millions of dollars — it doesn’t matter how pure someone’s intent was'....

"With concerns now rising that incurability and irreversibility cannot be predicted with confidence, Dr. Gaind believes that MAiD for mental illness should be off the table. 'To me, the question then becomes when you ask which mistakes do you want to be making? Letting someone live with suffering or letting someone die when they could’ve gotten better? To me, one wrongful death is too many."

Read more: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/medical-assistance-dying-canada-rules-mental-illness-185533347.html

Patients report being pressured to choose death

Some Canadian patients report being encouraged to choose assisted suicide as a way to cut hospital costs.

Some Canadian Health Care Patients Say They're Being Encouraged To Just Die Already | Reason - Scott Shackford:

September 7, 2022 - "In 2015 Canada's Supreme Court struck down bans on medically assisted suicide as a violation of citizens' liberty, writing that 'An individual's response to a grievous and irremediable medical condition is a matter critical to their dignity and autonomy. The prohibition denies people in this situation the right to make decisions concerning their bodily integrity and medical care and thus trenches on their liberty. And by leaving them to endure intolerable suffering, it impinges on their security of the person'.... [T]he judges note that a ban on physician-assisted suicide 'is rationally connected to the goal of protecting the vulnerable from taking their life in times of weakness' but that such protections don't justify a full blanket prohibition on the practice. And so, the court ordered Canada to draft new legislation permitting euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law was implemented in 2016.

"Unfortunately, the philosophical argument for the right to die can also end up colliding with troubling decisions in a country where the government funds and controls access to healthcare. That is reportedly happening in Canada.... According to the Associated Press, hospitals are raising the possibility of assisted suicide with patients who hadn't asked about it. These conversations are not motivated by quality of life but health care costs. The A.P. notes that Belgium and the Australian state of Victoria, which allow physician-assisted suicide, tell medical professionals not to bring up euthanasia so that it's not seen as medical advice.... This is not the case in Canada, where health care workers are trained to inform patients that they can choose euthanasia if they have a qualifying condition....

Roger Foley, who has a degenerative brain disorder and is hospitalized in London, Ontario, was so alarmed by staffers mentioning euthanasia that he began secretly recording some of their conversations. In one recording obtained by the AP, the hospital's director of ethics told Foley that for him to remain in the hospital, it would cost 'north of $1,500 a day.' Foley replied that mentioning fees felt like coercion and asked what plan there was for his long-term care. 'Roger, this is not my show,' the ethicist responded. 'My piece of this was to talk to you, (to see) if you had an interest in assisted dying.' Foley said he had never previously mentioned euthanasia....

"That Canada's health care system is primarily publicly funded and also has very long wait times for certain types of medical care has naturally raised questions about whether health officials are looking out for patients or what's best for the service providers and government.... Over the weekend, [a] 2017 report on CBC about 'potential savings from assisted suicide was making the rounds on Twitter. The ... report by the Canadian Medical Association Journal ... calculated that implementing assisted suicide programs would cost $1.5 million to $14.8 million but could reduce annual healthcare spending by between $34 million to $136.8 million. The report itself wasn't suggesting physicians encourage suicide.... 

"Tristin Hopper at the National Post notes that there are already several horror stories suggesting people are being pressured to die and that there are questions about whether health officials are making sure patients are of sound mind:

Last June, the Medical Assistance in Dying Committee heard from Trish Nichols, whose suicidal and severely mentally ill brother Alan was given assisted death at a Chilliwack, B.C., hospital in 2019, at a time when MAID was still limited only to Canadians with a terminal illness. Alan had been taken by his family to the hospital only days before to recover from a psychiatric episode, and in the minutes before he received a lethal injection, Trish described Alan screaming uncontrollably, despite the hospital's assurances that he had opted for a medically assisted death while 'of sound mind'....

"The lesson here should not be that assisted suicide is bad, but heavy government involvement in health care decisions has an inescapable distorting influence..... A survey from 2016 found that Canadians wait longer to access health care services than citizens in 11 other countries.... A 2020 study from the Canadian Family Physician journal notes that the country simply provides less freedom and opportunity for people seeking medical care than other countries, even when healthcare is centrally planned:

What these countries do differently than Canada is they allow the private sector to provide core health care insurance and services, require patients to share in the cost of treatment, and fund hospitals based on activity (rather than the global budgets that are the norm in Canada).

"In absence of significant 'freedom' to pursue individualized health care options, Canada is now potentially violating citizens' rights in the exact opposite direction than it was before. People have the right to die but also the right to continue living in the face of medical adversity. That Canada's publicly-operated health care system is unable to efficiently meet the needs of citizens makes all these health worker interactions about euthanasia inherently suspect."

Read more: https://reason.com/2022/09/07/some-canadian-health-care-patients-say-theyre-being-encouraged-to-just-die-already/

Maine legislature passes Death with Dignity Act

Maine legislature sends bill effectively legalizing assisted suicide to governor - CNNPolitics - Devan Cole:

June 5, 2019 - "The Maine state legislature has sent a bill that would effectively legalize medical aid in dying for patients suffering from terminally-ill diseases to the state's Democratic governor. The legislation, called the 'Maine Death with Dignity Act,' would allow mentally-competent patients over the age of 18 "to make a request for medication prescribed for the purpose of ending the person's life'....

"[A] spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Mills, said Wednesday the governor has not yet taken a position on the bill. She has 10 days to either sign or veto, and if she takes no action, the bill would become law after that time.

"The bill passed Maine's Democratic-controlled House on Monday by a vote of 73-72 and its Democratic-controlled Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 19-16. It states that it does not legalize medically-assisted suicide, though if enacted, it would effectively do so.

"The bill requires the patient to make two oral requests and a written request for the medication, with the written request being made at least 15 days after the initial oral request. The patient would also need to wait at least two days after they make their written request to receive the prescription and they would need [to] receive a second opinion by a consulting physician.

"The proposal defines "terminal disease" as 'an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within 6 months.' Patients who doctors determine are 'suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment' would be prohibited from receiving life-ending medication....

"The bill would also make it a crime to 'knowingly coerce or exert undue influence' on a patient to receive the medication and criminalize the act of forging request documents for the medication.

"If Mills signs the bill, Maine would join seven other states and the District of Columbia that have medical aid in dying statues, according to the Death with Dignity National Center."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/politics/maine-medical-suicide-death-with-dignity-bill/index.html
'via Blog this'

Canada's Supreme Court strikes down assisted suicide ban

Supreme Court strikes down assisted suicide ban | Toronto Star - Tonda MacCharles:

February 6, 2015 - "A historic and far-reaching decision of the Supreme Court of Canada declaring desperately suffering patients have a constitutional right to doctor-assisted suicide is set to reshape the agenda of Parliament if not the election this fall.

"The Conservative government that vowed never to reopen the question of assisted suicide is seeking to buy time in the wake of the bombshell ruling. Unanimous and unequivocal, the ruling will go down in the history books as Carter vs. Canada.

"It set out circumstances where the country’s top court said assisted suicide is constitutional — under a physician’s care, for consenting adults who determine they cannot tolerate the physical or psychological suffering brought on by a severe, incurable illness, disease or disability — a stunning reversal of the court’s 21-year-old ruling in the Sue Rodriguez case....

In the 9-0 judgment, the court declared the Criminal Code’s absolute ban on assisted suicide goes too far. Its attempt to protect the lives of 'vulnerable people' also prevents competent, consenting adults suffering 'grievous and irremediable medical conditions' from making core decisions about how they live and die, and so breaches three of the most basic rights: to life, liberty and security of the person, all enshrined in Sec. 7 of the Charter, and is not justified in a free democratic society."

Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/02/06/supreme-court-rules-strikes-down-assisted-suicide-ban.html
'via Blog this'

Right-to-die bill passed in Quebec

Quebec first province to adopt right-to-die legislation - The Globe and Mail - Rheal Seguin, Quebec City:

June 5, 2014 - "In a historic vote in the National Assembly, Quebec has become the first province to legalize doctor-assisted death as part of comprehensive end-of-life legislation.

"Bill 52, An Act respecting end-of-life care, received broad support on Thursday from nearly 80 per cent of MNAs. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard allowed his caucus to vote according to their conscience. The 22 MNAs who voted against were all Liberals, including 10 cabinet ministers....

"The controversial issue is being widely discussed across the country.

"The Supreme Court of Canada is taking another look at whether Criminal Code provisions against assisted dying violate the rights of the gravely ill. It is expected to rule in the fall.

"The B.C. Civil Liberties Association brought that case after the federal government successfully appealed a lower court ruling that those rights were indeed being transgressed and gave Parliament a year to rewrite the law.

"Meanwhile, Conservative [Party of Canada] MP Steven Fletcher has introduced two private members bills that, together, would allow doctors to help people die in a restricted set of circumstances."

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-first-province-to-adopt-right-to-die-legislation/article19009781/
'via Blog this'

Scott Adams: "The government is torturing my father until he dies"

Scott Adams Blog: I Hope My Father Dies Soon:

November 23, 2013 - "My father, age 86, is on the final approach to the long dirt nap (to use his own phrase). His mind is 98% gone, and all he has left is hours or possibly months of hideous unpleasantness in a hospital bed. I'll spare you the details, but it's as close to a living Hell as you can get.

"If my dad were a cat, we would have put him to sleep long ago. And not once would we have looked back and thought too soon.

"Because it's not too soon. It's far too late. His smallish estate pays about $8,000 per month to keep him in this state of perpetual suffering. Rarely has money been so poorly spent.

"I'd like to proactively end his suffering and let him go out with some dignity. But my government says I can't make that decision. Neither can his doctors. So, for all practical purposes, the government is torturing my father until he dies.

"I'm a patriotic guy by nature. I love my country. But the government? Well, we just broke up."

Read more: http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/i_hope_my_father_dies_soon/
'via Blog this'