Canada's dark path: hundreds of unreported abuses of euthanasia laws

"A pattern of non-compliance"

A damning report from Canada highlights hundreds of abuses of its MAiD (medical assistance in dying) laws, none of which have been reported to law enforcement. 'A Pattern of Non-Compliance,' by Alexander Raikin, a visiting fellow in bioethics at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and published  in The New Atlantis, details long-term non-compliance by doctors with Canada’s MAiD laws.

MAiD includes both assisted suicide—where the patient is prescribed drugs to kill themselves—and euthanasia—where the doctor kills the patient.

Evolving laws and growing concerns

MAiD was legalized for terminally ill patients in 2016 and broadened in 2021 to remove the requirement that the person be terminally ill. Since then, the country's assisted suicide laws have become progressively more liberal, to the point that MAiD is being offered to people who want to live but need assistance, which the government is reluctant to provide.

Reviewing the report for The Gateway Pundit, contributor Paul Serran noted that doctors have raised concerns about the loosening of requirements for MAiD. Many patients are requesting and being killed by doctors because they are overweight, bereaved, or poverty-stricken. In some cases, doctors and medical staff are pushing MAiD on people who want to live.

A decade later, doctors have been expressing ‘grave concerns’ over the loosening of the requirements that means patients are now requesting—and receiving—euthanasia because they were obese, grieving, or poor—and what’s worse, whatever safeguards still exist are being ignored.

Not to mention, there are instances of doctors or medical staff pushing MAiD on people who don’t want it.

"Cover-up of mammoth proportions"

According to a CNA article that reviewed Raikin's report, Ontario regulators have identified over 400 compliance issues since 2018, Serran reported. These include violations of regulations regarding eligibility and ensuring that patients do not suffer additional abuse. The Chief Coroner's office, which identified these instances of abuse, failed to bring the offenders to justice.

Ontario Chief Coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer […] identified hundreds of ‘issues with compliance’ with the criminal law and regulatory policies of MAiD without having moved to prosecute any of the offenders. Of the more than 400 violations, just four cases were reported to a regulatory body, while all others were deemed lower-level offenses, and not a single case was reported to the police.

Calling it"a cover-up of mammoth proportions,” Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition also warned about pro-euthanasia activists pushing for euthanasia for the mentally ill. (Emphasis added.)

Activists have regularly pushed to expand MAiD, including allowing individuals to obtain lethal drugs if they are suffering from a mental illness. Quebec recently began allowing individuals to be euthanized even when they are incapable of giving consent.

Healthcare or death?

The Gold Report has detailed how Canada’s euthanasia laws now permit people who are not terminally ill, but have disabilities or serious illnesses that make life unpleasant, to agree to be killed and doctors killing patients is being provided as another "treatment option". Even if MAiD goes against their conscience or religious beliefs, doctors are required to advise patients that they can choose to die and refer them to a willing practitioner.

Examples of Canadian doctors and government agencies offering death instead of necessary healthcare and assistance abound. For instance, disabled veteran and Paralympian Christine Gauthier was offered MAiD instead of the wheelchair ramp she had been requesting for five years. Roger Foley, a disabled man denied in-home care, was pressured to accept death, and told that he was costing the government north of $1,500 per day. Pro-life activist Amanda Achtman shared Foley’s story in the following tweet:

The cost of living—or dying

Desperate individuals afraid of homelessness or unable to afford housing have opted for euthanasia. In 2022, Telesure English raised the alarm that Canadians were choosing to die because they couldn’t afford to live.

Canada has some of the lowest social care spending of any industrialized country, palliative care is only accessible to a minority, and waiting times in the public healthcare sector can be unbearable," Oxford Nuffield College researcher Yuan Yi Zhu said in an article published by The Spectator, which explains why poor citizens who cannot improve their living conditions started applying for the MAID program.

Amir Farsoud, living with untreatable back pain, applied for and was approved for MAiD after his home was sold, leaving him facing the prospect of homelessness. After his plight was publicized, a stranger started a GoFundMe campaign for him that raised $60,000. Farsoud was then able to find new housing and changed his mind about being killed. SPUC Pro-Life shared his story in the following tweet:

Euthanasia out of control

Serran quoted Jack Fonseca of Canada’s Campaign Life Coalition, which had warned that euthanasia laws would expand uncontrollably:

‍When euthanasia was first legalized in Canada, we warned that it would expand rapidly until everyone who wanted to be killed by the state could be killed, and that none of the promised safeguards would protect the vulnerable. This report proves us right.

Organ donation drives MAiD

The push for MAiD in Canada is intertwined with the Quebec and Ontario organ donor and transplant programs, making Canada the top-ranking country for organ transplants. Ontario transplant anesthesiologist Claire Robinson explained that doctors must notify the provincial organ donation agency of potential donors, including individuals considering MAiD. She expressed her shock at discovering that organ donation from MAiD patients was already part of the system.

I was just shocked because I work in Ontario, and the organ sharing network here is called Trillium. When I looked into it, Trillium had a whole toolbox for how to handle these cases. It was obviously something that was already embedded into the system, which was a huge surprise to me.

She noted that organs from MAiD patients without life-threatening illnesses were preferred since they are in better condition but that organs from cancer patients are not used for fear that they can lead to cancer in the recipient.

Profits before patients

MAiD organ donation is a lucrative source of income for some and saves the government money. Doctors, transplant surgeons, the government, and Big Pharma all benefit from organ transplants, The Gold Report further reported. Everyone benefits—but the donor.

‍⇛ ⇛ Given the government’s prioritization of MAiD over healthcare and social support, and its connection to organ donation, urgent questions remain about whether Canada can change course to reduce the abuse of the process.

‍

Related articles:

• The healthcare system's deadly shift: euthanasia as a solution
• Euthanasia out of control‍
• ‍Is Canada profiteering from euthanasia and transplants — like the CCP?
• Are MAiD organ donors really dead when their organs are harvested? Waiting five minutes after the heart stops may not be long enough
• Are organ donors dead when their organs are harvested? 'If you’re really dead, then no organs can be extracted'
• Is organ harvesting driving euthanasia? The ugly truth about why Canada leads in MAiD organ donor transplants‍
• The harsh reality of euthanasia: Exposing the myth of a peaceful passing
• Euthanasia by the numbers: Canadian doctors have already killed the equivalent of a small city‍
• Is euthanasia compassionate if offered to those who don’t want to die and doctors misjudge imminent death?
• White coat euthanasia: A license to kill in the name of care?
• Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) - a cruel way to die but not to the onlooker
• Disabled in Canada? Doctors may pressure you to end your life

‍