Canada the Cruel

 Euthanising the weak and vulnerable for living room:

Medically assisted deaths jumped by 31 per cent in Canada last year as part of a continuing trend since the practice was legalized in 2016 for those with a serious and incurable illness or disability, a federal report says.

Health Canada says in the report that 13,241 people chose medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2022, for a total of 44,958 deaths so far, and that the average annual growth rate has been 31 per cent from 2019 to 2022.

The fourth annual report comes before MAID is expected to expand next spring to include people with a mental disorder as the sole underlying condition, though some psychiatrists are calling for more addiction and mental health services.

The report says 63 per cent of people who received MAID last year had cancer and 19 per cent had heart conditions. All provinces except Manitoba and Yukon continued to experience a steady year-over-year growth in MAID.

It says nearly 78 per cent of patients received palliative care, a level similar to the previous three years, and that half of patients got that care for a month or more, similar to the level reported in 2021.

Nearly 20 per cent of MAID recipients did not receive palliative care, but almost 88 per cent had access to it.

"The receipt of palliative care services is more common amongst individuals with a main condition of cancer, while disability support services were more commonly received by individuals suffering from a neurological condition," says the report, released Tuesday.

In a message accompanying the fourth annual MAID report, Health Minister Mark Holland says Ottawa is collaborating with provinces and territories to ensure the safe and consistent delivery of the provision.

Just put a bullet in their skulls. It's quicker.

You DO want them gone, don't you?

Of course you do:

Last year 4.1% of all deaths in Canada were due to MAiD (medical assistance in dying), according to the country’s health ministry. This amounts to a total of 13,241 people who died under Canada’s MAiD programme in 2022, marking a 31% rise on the previous year.

These findings provide succour to claims made by MAiD critics that the programme has become too permissive. Federal guidelines stipulate that clients must have a grievous and irremediable medical condition, make a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying that is not the result of outside pressure or influence, and give informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying.

But towards the end of last year, the programme was criticised for allegedly driving citizens into assisted suicide on the grounds of poverty or lack of healthcare. Stories included two separate cases of cash-strapped women suffering from chronic health conditions who successfully applied to end their lives. Elsewhere, four Canadian military veterans were allegedly “pressured” to opt for medically-assisted death by a now-suspended Veterans Affairs Canada caseworker.

Health Canada’s fourth annual report on MAiD shows a staggering rise in deaths. Since the programme was launched in 2016, there has been a thirteenfold increase. The most cited underlying medical conditions for choosing MAiD included cancer (63%) as well as various respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological conditions. But in 463 MAiD cases, the person’s natural death was not reasonably foreseeable, up from 221 individuals in 2021.

There was also a 27% rise in the number of written requests for MAiD in 2022 (16,104) since 2021, 560 of which were deemed ineligible. The most commonly cited sources of suffering by people requesting MAiD were the loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities (86.3%), followed by loss of ability to perform activities of daily living (81.9%) and inadequate control of pain, or concern about controlling pain (59.2%).