Canada Assisted Dying Shitshow

[antelopevalley]

Anyone else been following what is happening in Canada around assisted dying? Lots of issues with mentally ill and depressed people being helped to kill themselves and assisted dying in some cases being pushed on disabled people. Below is a screenshot from the latest awful story.

This is what worries me about assisted dying, how it is implemented in practice. I remember how awful the Liverpool Pathway was that was supposed to make dying patients' last days more comfortable, and instead led to people who may have recovered being starved to death.

In theory I think we should have the option but in reality with the state of the NHS it would be dangerous and nothing short of eugenics to have it here.

Are there actually any assisted death methods that are genuinely peaceful and free from suffering? I can remember falling down a rabbit hole and reading about each method, and none sounded like the fairytale "just fall asleep and don't wake up".

Hercisback

totally agree.

Another who wants to be allowed the autonomy and compassion to choose when to go, if I get to a state where I feel I do not want to live any longer.
I know that won't happen in my lifetime, (oh, the irony!) but I think the small step of what is being proposed is at least a step in the right direction.

I am not against assisted suicide in extreme cases where people are so bad and there is no cure for their disease but Canada has taken this to another lever though. I read a man was being evicted from his rental home so he chose to die because he couldnt afford to move. They was actually gonna do it too but people crowd funded for him so he didn’t. I’ve also read they are seeking to be able to euthanise children without parental permission for problems such as depression. This is all extremely worrying and after how they have treated citizens since covid I feel sorry for the Canadian people

What happened was that someone lost their brother due to what they think was a transient depressive episode.
They are upset and they are angry.

There are stringent guidelines to allow MAID. Unfortunately the the case highlighted by the OP and the unscrupulous UK newspaper was one case of poor judgement by an employee not involved in the decision making process. The employee has since been fired.

here is some info from the government website for those interested;

www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/medical-assistance-dying.html#a3

Personally I think it is a blessing to be offered to stop needless suffering.

‘Just need better painkillers’ … dosing people up to the hilt so they are barely conscious doesn’t seem like much quality of life!

Pain isn’t the only issue. Having seen a loved one who’s body deteriorated from a degenerative illness which has no cure but who’s mind was completely lucid. Bed bound and with little ability to move themselves. Couldn’t feed themselves. No painkillers could help them. They really, truly suffered for many many years.

It is political propaganda. Didn’t happen. Wouldn’t happen. Is illegal.

As I said people are mad about disability payments and are making up these stories not realizing they can be easily picked apart as the people making them up don’t even know the laws.

In addition to Maid not being legal for mental illness, there is. 90 day required wait period for anyone who does not have a foreseeable death. Nothing about that story you read makes a shred of sense. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Let’s say you are correct - (which I truly don’t believe you are - I strongly believe access to assisted suicide would help the majority) if I was in chronic pain, in a life limiting position where standard of living was poor and I didn’t have access to pain relief or support necessary to be able to live my life then I would absolutely want the option to end my life. Who are you to say that’s wrong? Or to say to me that it is not necessary and bad? Life ends - it will come to everyone eventually and giving people control over that is not a bad thing or something to be scared of. There absolutely needs to be safety measures in place particularly for the vulnerable but saying that there should be no access leaves people subject to torturous pain - you say it doesn’t need to but in practice it does.

Once it becomes an option, for many it will become an obligation.

I just don’t know how you legislate to stop a sound minded person who doesn’t really want to die, from going through the process anyway to prevent themselves from being a burden.

Hmm really mixed feelings about this. I think it’s the right, ethical thing, no doubt! You shouldn’t force a person to live with terrible pain. However as a person with a degenerative disease I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t feel like it was expected of me past a certain point. I’d likely feel like I’d chosen to be a burden not doing it and for sure I’d chose it over sinking more of our family money into my care. I don’t believe doctors or mental health professionals can really flag that. It makes me feel afraid and sad, but it doesn’t make me think it shouldn’t be allowed.

Yep, my elderly relative had a care directive . Countersigned by the GP, on a form he gave him ,,also lodged with the family solicitor .

when he was taken to hospital with a severe stroke, we produced the form. ‘ oh, we don’t take any notice of that’ the chief doctor said. So they condemned him to nine months of not being able to walk or speak, until he managed to die.

I see lots of opinions of others quality of life- I already think that's massively dangerous.
Then add the cases of transient want to die. This is too fraught.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/medical-assistance-death-maid-veterans-christine-gauthier-1.6674747
i don't think the assisted dying regulations and implementations are a shit show at all.
it's an option that needs to be mentioned at some point between a health care rep and a patient. some people will take it onboard as an option some will be insulted it was mentioned.

in my years of nursing it's often family that have issues around death not the person for whom it's being discussed as an option.

I am 67 and relatively fit. I would rather die in my sleep tonight than ve forced to go on living when my 'life' becomes mere 'existence'.

Modern drugs can keep you pain free they say - bollocks. I have a friend who is in constant pain and has been for decades because of arthritis and similar. She would love to be pain free but, with a husband and numerous grandkids wouldn't currently choose euthanasia. I 100% think that is right for her. For me, if I were in her health position, (no partner, adult children and no grandkids) I would choose suicide right now - in fact I wouldn't be here now.

I will commit suicide sometime in the next decade or so if legislation isn't passed that allows legalised assisted dying. I will die sooner than I need to (or want to) because I know that by the time that decision should be made I will be unable to make it for myself.

Not legalising assisted dying is actually causing more people to die before it is the best time for them because it is the only way we can take control of our own mortality.

AND also fuck those that say modern medicine can keep us pain free - even if 'they' can, there is more to life than not being in pain. FFS let me go whilst I still have the ability to request it.

So you've read the daily mail and that's enough evidence for you to conclude your thoughts on it?

This story was reported in the Canadian news too, so not specific to the Daily Mail. I live in Canada and I find this utterly abhorrent. They’re now talking about making assisted dying available to “mature” children. With this and the whole “trans women are women” mentality that has been adopted hook, line and sinker here, this is increasingly turning into a country that I don’t want to be in.

I think assisted dying is essential, but it has to be handled really really bloody carefully.

I can easily see it going wrong somewhere like Canada, a country which has shown a tendency in recent years to fall down rabbitholes that are signposted "literally everything is fine as long as it is consensual and nobody gets to judge anything or anybody ever."

Going by the pension and inheritance threads on here, there's no shortage of families who'd try to persuade their parents and other family to apply for euthanasia.

Firstly, you are reading the Daily Mail. Medically Assisted Death (MAID) has given back control to many people. Dignity in death.

The health service is under severe strain in Canada just like the UK. It is not perfect.

I know people who used MAID in Canada and I am glad they were able to have that option.

For every negative you read, there are far more positives.

I for one, am glad MAID is an option here in Canada.

I live in Canada (emigrated here from the UK 7 years ago) and am glad I have the option to choose the end of my life should I choose.

We shouldn’t be forcing people to live if they don’t want to… Some incurable and painful terminal illnesses are more cruel than death.

I work in a care home in see suffering every shift. I see the reality of dementia and what it does to people, the distress and loss of dignity. I don’t know what the obsession is with keeping people alive for as long as possible when there is no quality of life …. If I get a diagnosis of dementia, too right will I choose to unalive myself. Hopefully there will be a medical support to make that decision at the time and there will be assisted suicide in this country that’s regulated and legal.

Also as someone who has struggled with depression I can understand why someone would want to end that suffering too if all other treatments, medications and therapy fail to work. Mental pain can be just as bad as physical pain and suffering.

I agree completely. I want this choice for myself and all of the people I love. We treat animals with more compassion at the end of their lives than humans in the UK, currently.

That's a separate issue though. Healthcare and social care need improving in many countries. That doesn't mean people should not have the option to choose death. We need both things.

Or it could be in years to come that our so-called civilised.society will be seen as barbaric for killing people who are homeless or who cannot afford medical treatment.
Doctors,according to that article, are even proposing that they take this way out.
And from what we know of Nazi medics there will be no shortage of doctors to do the honours.
Lack of proper procedures leaves patients wide open to abuse.

MAiD is the sort of thing where one might reasonably expect to hear “A coworker of mine had a relative who used MAiD.”

”I know people who used MAiD” implies….rather a lot of people!

I’m not against AD as a concept, but things like the transgender debacle have made me suspicious of whether Canada and other countries are safeguarding appropriately or are just charging off over the cliff, fueled by groupthink.