MAID [MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING] IS A CANADIAN PROGRAM THAT OFFERS EUTHANASIA SERVICES FOR CANADIANS

THE MAID Program provides euthanasia services for Canadians who are: eligible for publicly funded health services; 18 years of age; able to make their own health decisions; have an untreatable [serious and incurable] illness; be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; experiencde intolerable physical or psychological suffering that can not be relieved in ways that are acceptable to the person who is suffering; voluntarily request the euthanasia; and have signed informed consent for the procedure. [Mental illness by itself is not enough for euthanasia]. It is possible for individuals to self administer a medication to complete their euthanasia. Many Canadians feel that the MAID program has helped many people by giving them an ability to end their suffering. There is also a movement to have adolescent children be eligible for euthanasia.

My concern about euthanasia is that it depends on there actually being universal access for everyone to excellent health care to improve functioning and to minimize suffering and then euthanasia will only be necessary for those who cannot be helped by medical care or whose suffering and quality of life are no longer endurable. If excellent medical care is not available for everyone then there is a risk that euthanasia will be an answer to not adequate or sufficient health care as people may feel a need to end their lives to end their pain without hope of medical interventions to help them. This may be one explanation for the increasing rate of euthanasia in Canada where a report out of Dordt University in March of 2025 indicated that euthanasia represented 4.7% of all deaths in Canada. The Netherlands is reported to have the highest euthanasia rate at 5% of all deaths. Also, in Canada euthanasia for mental illness reasons alone will become available in March 17 of 2027, likely increasing the number of deaths by euthanasia.

What do you think?