by Rebecca Vachon and Alexander Raikin, The Hub
MAiD has gone far further, far faster than was promised
The evidence is piling up: Canadians with disabilities are disproportionately dying by medical assistance in dying (MAiD) despite official reassurances about strict safeguards.
Since legalization, we have seen a lonely Ontario widower in his 70s dying by MAiD because he no longer had meaningful relationships. We have seen Normand Meunier, a quadriplegic man, ask for and receive MAiD in Quebec because he developed painful bedsores from waiting 95 hours for medical care at an ER.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities blasted the Canadian government on its approach to MAiD, citing evidence of the impact on persons with disabilities.
Meanwhile, clinicians in charge of Vancouver Coastal Health’s assisted-dying team have told patients with chronic pain that choosing MAiD to avoid burdening loved ones can be considered an “expression of love.“
All of this comes despite assurances from politicians and MAiD clinicians that Canada’s MAiD regime “has been carefully designed with stringent safeguards.” It also comes despite the expectations of Canada’s courts, which decriminalized MAiD, that euthanasia and assisted suicide would not put Canadians living with vulnerabilities at inordinate risk.