Private forums show Canadian doctors struggle with euthanizing vulnerable patients
Private forums show Canadian doctors struggle with euthanizing vulnerable patients
A homeless man refusing long-term care, a woman with severe obesity, grieving widows. Each euthanasia request sparked debate among Canadian doctors and nurses struggling with the ethics of one of the most permissive laws globally on the practice.
Good? That’s the sort of thing that should never ever be easy.
Yeah, pretty much.
And it should make you question everything about the situation except the wishes of the person involved.
The discussion around MAID in Canada is obviously complicated, but there's something that’s pretty obvious: the system seems to be set up for people who don’t have the money or resources to explore other options. To be blunt, it looks like a way to save costs. Instead of providing better healthcare, mental health support, or improving people’s lives, the program seems to give them an easy out—especially for those who are struggling and don’t see any other way forward. It’s kind of scary when you think about how vulnerable people could feel like this is their only option just because they can't afford better care. If doctors could prescribe money, friends, enforce therapy, or a dietary coach/trainer, it seems like a lot of these cases would be solved.
At the same time, trying to make suicide illegal is ridiculous. People are going to make that decision for themselves no matter what the government says. It’s a fundamental choice over your own life, and no law can stop someone from doing it if they really want to. What MAID does is offer a more humane, less traumatic way to do it, and that’s important for those who need it. So in that sense, it’s a good thing. It just feels like the bigger problem is how we’re getting people to that point in the first place.
The Canadian government doesn’t seem to want to deal with the real problems that push people to feel like they have no choice but to die. Instead of making euthanasia the easy answer, they should be working harder to fix the system so fewer people feel like that’s their only option.
I know America is fucked -- and, indeed, per capita suicide rates in the United States, where it's almost entirely illegal, are much higher than in Canada -- but what the heck is going on up there, yall?
I have seen the other side. Friends dad got a terminal cancer diagnosis--too far along to be able to treat. He had done very well in life, so funds were not an issue. He chose MAID because he said "why would I want one more month of this pain and suffering to continue." We put animals down that are beyond help and suffering out of compassion...why would we not extend that courtesy to those who no longer want to go through it.
If we are a society that believes in the individual's right to choose, what could be a more fundamental choice than to welcome or decline existence?
The local humane society won't even euthanize pets for about the last decade because it's too hard on the staff.