The AP reports Canada will not authorize so-called “medical aid in dying” (MAID) for people suffering solely from mental illness, but experts say expansions to the country’s euthanasia laws could authorize it for people with dementia and similar conditions.
When the Canadian Parliament first legalized MAID in 2016, the goal was to let terminally ill people end their lives via assisted suicide. However, since then Canadians have seen the practice expand under a deadly bait and switch.
In the past decade, MAID has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives and now accounts for one in 20 Canadian deaths.
The country was scheduled to expand assisted suicide to include people suffering solely from mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. However, Canadian leaders announced earlier this month that they are abandoning that plan.
While that may be good news, the Daily Citizen reports that Canada plans to introduce legislation this fall that would allow euthanasia by “advance request.”
An advance request would function like an advance directive letting doctors euthanize the patient.
Canadian officials note, “An advance request is a request for MAID made by an individual who still has the capacity to make decisions, before they are eligible or want to receive it. Their intent is that MAID be provided in the future after they have lost the capacity to consent and when certain conditions that they specify in their request are met.”
Zachary Mettler at the Daily Citizen describes how this practice could make it possible for Canada to euthanize people suffering from dementia, writing, “For example, someone in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease could request and be approved for euthanasia by advance request and then be killed later after their condition deteriorates and they can no longer agree to be killed.”
This is exactly the slippery slope that pro-life advocates have warned about for years.
Canada’s definition of who qualifies for assisted suicide is already dangerously broad. Patients can be approved for euthanasia based on cancer, organ failure, or neurological conditions. But they can also be killed for diabetes, chronic pain, hearing problems, or even “feelings of loneliness.”
Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.
Being pro-life means believing innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death. That’s why Family Council has spent years opposing assisted suicide and euthanasia in Arkansas. Canada is a clear example of where euthanasia and assisted suicide lead, and Arkansas would be wise not to go there.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
