MAiD
Canada’s devastating assisted suicide regime is tearing families apart
From LifeSiteNews
The father stated that his daughter’s ‘capacity to consent to [assisted suicide] is impacted by mental illness’ and that she had likely been ‘unduly influenced by a third party.’
Last year, I noted in First Things that of all the perverse lies told by proponents of euthanasia, one of the worst is their claim that it reduces suffering in society. The precise opposite is true. We have seen this in Canada time and again; heartbroken relatives reaching out to the media to explain how the assisted suicide of a loved one has left them destroyed. Each person who dies at the end of a doctor’s needle leaves loved ones behind; many of them are deeply traumatized by the experience.
Gary Hertgers of British Columbia found out that his sister, Wilma, had died by lethal injection when her building manager called him to inform him that the coroner had just left her apartment. A doctor told the Globe and Mail that he still has nightmares about his father’s euthanasia death, which the family opposed. Two sisters in B.C. found out that their mother had died through euthanasia by text message. Another mother whose troubled son was approved for euthanasia only managed to have that approval rescinded by launching a media campaign.
The CBC is now reporting on a similar story. A desperate father has requested that Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby in Alberta examine the process that led to two of three doctors approving his daughter for euthanasia (which is referred to in Canada as “MAiD,” or medical assistance in dying). His daughter, who suffers from autism, is only 27 years old. The court has issued a publication ban to protect the identities of the family members and the doctors involved; CBC identified the father as “W.V.” and the daughter as “M.V.”
According to court proceedings, M.V. was approved for euthanasia in December – signoff by two doctors is required to meet the threshold. She was given the date of February 1 to receive the lethal injection. M.V. still lives with her father, who managed to obtain a temporary injunction halting the impending euthanasia (the CBC reported that this “prevent(ed) M.V. from accessing MAiD”) the day before her scheduled death. Her father argued to the court that “M.V. suffers from autism and possibly other undiagnosed maladies that do not satisfy the eligibility criteria for MAiD.”
The daughter’s lawyer, Austin Paladeau, countered by arguing that M.V. is “not trying to withhold or hide anything” by her failure to supply medical documents justifying euthanasia, but that “She’s saying ‘it’s none of (W.V.’s) or the public’s business, I’ve been approved by two doctors, I am entitled to this and, court, it’s none of your business either.’”
Her father, who still cares for her, feels differently; her death is very much his business. His lawyer, Sarah Miller, argued in a brief: “As it stands, AHS (Alberta Health Services) operates a MAiD system with no legislation, no appeal process and no means of review.”
Miller is asking the Calgary judge for a judicial review of M.V.’s approval for euthanasia, and W.V. submitted a 2021 report to the court from a neurologist who stated that M.V. was “normal”; the father also stated that M.V.’s “capacity to consent to MAiD is impacted by mental illness” and that she had likely been “unduly influenced by a third party.” M.V.’s lawyer argued that the issue at stake was medical autonomy itself, stating:
He’s at risk of losing his daughter and while this is sad, it does not give him the right to keep her alive against her wishes. One of the real challenging parts of this process… is what’s actually happening. I completely understand (W.V.) does not want his daughter to die… I represent (M.V.), I don’t want her to die either but that doesn’t play into account here. Even though we have or may have very strong views… at the end of the day this is (M.V.’s) decision.
The judge is grappling with the case. “As a court, I can’t go second guessing these MAiD assessors… but I’m stuck with this: the only comprehensive assessment of this person done says she’s normal,” Feasby stated. “That’s really hard.” He called the case a “vexing” one and, according to the CBC, “reserved his decision on whether he’ll set aside the temporary injunction preventing M.V. from accessing MAiD… the other part of his decision will deal with whether a judicial review will take place, which would examine how doctors came to sign off on M.V.’s MAiD application.”
I hope Feasby makes the right decision. If he does not, a father will face the horror of a doctor coming into his home and giving his daughter a lethal injection against his will – with the entire force of the state endorsing the doctor’s right to do so. At the end of the day, this case is vexing – but it really isn’t hard.
International
28-year-old Dutch woman to be killed by assisted suicide after doctors deem her autism ‘untreatable’
28-year-old Dutch woman Zoraya ter Beek (YouTube Screenshot)
From LifeSiteNews
28-year-old Zoraya ter Beek plans to die by assisted suicide over her struggles with depression and mental illness, a trend which is increasing in The Netherlands.
A 28-year-old autistic woman is scheduled to die by assisted suicide in May in The Netherlands after struggling with depression and mental illness, with her psychiatrist telling her that her condition is untreatable and will never improve.
Zoraya ter Beek, who does not suffer from any physical illness, has decided to end her life by assisted suicide after psychiatrists said they had exhausted any means of helping her deal with her mental illnesses, which includes borderline personality disorder, according to The Free Press.
Her struggles with mental illness have prevented her from being able to finish school or start a career.
READ: Canadian judge blocks imminent euthanasia death of 27-year-old autistic woman
In testimony to the nihilistic attitude adopted in the choice to end her own life on account of suffering, Ter Beek has decided that after she has been killed, her body will be cremated without a funeral and her ashes scattered in the woods.
Ter Beek’s choice to take her own life comes despite her admitted fear of death arising from the uncertainty of what happens after death.
“I’m a little afraid of dying, because it’s the ultimate unknown,” she said. “We don’t really know what’s next – or is there nothing? That’s the scary part.”
The diagnosis of autism and mental illness as “untreatable” and “unbearable” has become an increasing trend in The Netherlands, with a study published in June 2023 revealing 40 cases over a 10-year period from 2012 to 2021. In a third of those cases, those with autism or intellectual disabilities were told there was no hope of improving their lives, and so their condition was deemed “untreatable.”
READ: Autistic people in the Netherlands are being euthanized: report
Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, a palliative care physician at Britain’s Kingston University, who led the study which examined 900 cases, said, “There’s no doubt in my mind these people were suffering. But is society really OK with sending this message, that there’s no other way to help them and it’s just better to be dead?”
Tim Stainton, director of the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship at the University of British Columbia, added, “Helping people with autism and intellectual disabilities to die is essentially eugenics.”
The scheduled killing of the 28-year-old autistic woman comes as The Netherlands continues to expand the scope of what legally qualifies for euthanasia, with a new law effective February 1 allowing the killing of terminally ill children aged 1 through 12 who are deemed to be “suffering hopelessly and unbearably.”
The law allows parents to decide to kill their child even if the child is unwilling or unable to consent.
66-year-old Quebec man Normand Meunier who died via euthanasia after a 4-day hospital stay left him with severe bed sores
From LifeSiteNews
‘I don’t want to be a burden,’ the 66-year-old man said prior to his death after he developed bed sores due to a lack of specialized care at a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec.
A quadriplegic man in Quebec was killed via euthanasia after he developed severe bed sores while waiting in a hospital for an extended period of time.
On March 29, Normand Meunier, a 66-year-old quadriplegic man in Quebec, was euthanized in his home after developing bed sores due to a lack of specialized care at the hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, according to a report by Radio-Canada.
“I don’t want to be a burden. At any rate, the medical opinions say I won’t be a burden for long; as the old folks say, it’s better to kick the can,” Meunier told Radio-Canada in an interview the day before he was killed.
Meunier, whose arms and legs have been paralyzed since 2022 due to a spinal cord injury, went to the hospital’s intensive care for a respiratory virus. According to his partner Sylvie Brosseau, the hospital placed Meunier on a stretcher for 95 hours.
Bosseau revealed that she asked medical staff to provide a specialized bed for Meunier but was told that the hospital would have to order one. According to the hospital, they are investigating the incident, adding that they do have beds available.
After spending four days on a hospital cot, Meunier developed bed sores and a major pressure ulcer on his buttocks, which were so severe that the muscle and bone were exposed and visible.
While Meunier had previously experienced bedsores, he determined to end his life via Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), the euphemistic name for Canada’s euthanasia regime, rather than continue to receive treatment.
Unfortunately, Meunier is not the first Canadians to choose MAiD after being given insufficient medical care.
As a result of a healthcare worker shortage, wait times to receive care in Canada have increased to an average of 27.7 weeks, leading some Canadians to despair and opt for euthanasia instead of waiting for assistance.
This was the case of 52-year-old Dan Quayle, a grandfather from British Columbia. On November 24, he chose to be killed via lethal injection after being unable to receive cancer treatment due to the increased wait times.
Throughout the agonizing wait, his family “prayed he would change his mind or get an 11th-hour call that chemo had been scheduled,” but were instead told consistently by the hospital that they were “backlogged.”
Similarly, in 2022, a Winnipeg woman wrote in her posthumously published obituary that she chose to die by assisted suicide after being refused the treatments she needed: “I could have had more time if I had more help.”
However, instead of supporting the healthcare system to prevent Canadians from taking their own lives, the Trudeau government is working to expand access to MAiD by loosening its requirements.
On March 9, 2024, MAiD was set to expand to include those suffering solely from mental illness. This is a result of the 2021 passage of Bill C-7, which also allowed the chronically ill – not just the terminally ill – to qualify for so-called doctor-assisted death.
After massive pushback from doctors, pro-life groups and politicians, the program’s expansion was temporarily paused until 2027.
According to Health Canada, in 2022, 13,241 Canadians died by MAiD lethal injection, which is 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country for that year, and a 31.2 percent increase from 2021.
The number of Canadians killed by lethal injection since 2016 now stands at 44,958.
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