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Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

bbc.com

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Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#21

Post by [deleted] »

logicchains wrote: post #14
fatbird wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your whole comment frames MAID as something the gov't does to patients, not something patients choose as a better option than spending 6-12 months in agony with only one possible outcome. MAID isn't a cost cutting measure. The cost of palliative care for the terminally ill is trivial. It's not a loud issue in Canada because we've had decades of grappling with this (there's nothing sudden about it: google "Robert Lati…

>Your whole comment frames MAID as something the gov't does to patients, not something patients choose as a better option than spending 6-12 months in agony with only one possible outcome. It is something the government (or people working for it) have tried to push onto patients: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-maid-rcmp-investig... .

[deleted]

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#23

Post by snehk »

tptacek wrote: post #3

"Nearly all of those who requested assisted dying - around 96% - had a foreseeable natural death. The remaining 4% were granted euthanasia due to having a long-term chronic illness and where a natural death was not imminent". This is basically clickbait; the law is changing how people die of terminal conditions, but only a tiny fraction of those are deaths that really trace to the new law.

You cannot trust this article. Just check out the cases where they basically tell poor people that euthanasia is always an option. It's horrible. If they don't talk about where the program goes horribly wrong, we shouldn't listen to them when they talk about the supposed positives.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#24

Post by fatbird »

logicchains wrote: post #20
fatbird wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major cost drivers of Canada's single payer health care system are big-ticket tests and interventions: MRIs, surgery, etc. Palliative care is comparatively cheap, especially since it's often done at home with a visiting nurse coming by to inject morphine. There's no significant savings to be found by killing the terminally ill more quickly. MAID is always a choice by a patient, not an option chosen by the health…

There are cases where it's been actively suggested to a non-terminally-ill patient nowhere near death's door, like https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/christine-gauthier-assisted... . And the just the act of suggesting it can cause someone to commit suicide, that's why news media have to be careful how they present articles involving suicide: https://afsp.org/safereporting/ .

Please see my reply to your other post making this point.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#25

Post by robertlagrant »

ben30 wrote: post #13

Fifteen years ago, flying into Vancouver, a local told me charities would give homeless people one-way bus tickets there from colder regions of Canada to prevent winter deaths. No return tickets in spring. Calls into question what we consider "charitable" when the solution is just moving vulnerable people elsewhere. Worrying parallel: will euthanasia become another "solution" for those who can't afford proper care an…

> will euthanasia become another "solution" for those who can't afford proper care and treatment?

This is all but guaranteed to happen to some extent; after all, criminals exist who killed people, so a legalised form of that will be used at least once in the history of Canada. I guess the question is more: will this become more normal than would've been preferable, but in 20 years will just be one of those facts of life? Possibly? Certainly that possibility was the main objection to MAID.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#26

Post by snakeyjake »

In an ideal world 100% of all deaths would be by euthanasia.

Instead there are accidents, which kill prematurely.

Homicides, which steal life.

And diseases, which cripple and degrade.

I've watched three of my four grandparents suffocate to death as their organs failed, blasted out of their minds on morphine, nothing more than a collection of organs with a slowly stopping metabolism. Two of them wanted to end it, but couldn't.

I suppose the only accident, homicide, and disease that cannot be defeated given enough luck, research, and effort is the eventual tiring, erosion, and destruction of one's mind so in an ideal world that would be the single cause of death, a death brought about by euthanasia once it is detected and things are put in order.

If the religious extremists who want to impose their morals on others and the private equity firms buying up all of the hospice providers are still bribing politicians to keep people from living their lives as they see fit by the time I get there, I'll be breaking the law.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#27

Post by Iulioh »

ben30 wrote: post #13

Fifteen years ago, flying into Vancouver, a local told me charities would give homeless people one-way bus tickets there from colder regions of Canada to prevent winter deaths. No return tickets in spring. Calls into question what we consider "charitable" when the solution is just moving vulnerable people elsewhere. Worrying parallel: will euthanasia become another "solution" for those who can't afford proper care an…

Yes but undirectly.

-Can't afford therapy for curable or mitigable disease

-Let it worsen

-Death is the only charitable option as a cure is now impossible and life is miserable

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#28

Post by rjrdi38dbbdb »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #17
ben30 wrote: post #13

Fifteen years ago, flying into Vancouver, a local told me charities would give homeless people one-way bus tickets there from colder regions of Canada to prevent winter deaths. No return tickets in spring. Calls into question what we consider "charitable" when the solution is just moving vulnerable people elsewhere. Worrying parallel: will euthanasia become another "solution" for those who can't afford proper care an…

[flagged]

It's fairly common for governments to provide a basic level of care for free or heavily subsidized, but not cover more expensive treatments. It's certainly not exclusive to the US.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#29

Post by amatecha »

snakeyjake wrote: post #26

In an ideal world 100% of all deaths would be by euthanasia. Instead there are accidents, which kill prematurely. Homicides, which steal life. And diseases, which cripple and degrade. I've watched three of my four grandparents suffocate to death as their organs failed, blasted out of their minds on morphine, nothing more than a collection of organs with a slowly stopping metabolism. Two of them wanted to end it, but…

I'd probably prefer to not know, and die in my sleep - surely preferred over the dread of knowing the moment, even if it would be painless/easy. Not sure, my opinion might be different if I'm old and suffering!

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#30

Post by dathos »

My grandma always told me when she couldn’t go on her walks anymore she didn’t consider life worth living. When she got dementia she was placed in a closed hospice, to “protect her”. Now she only walks when I visit, and I only see a shell of the woman she was.

Anecdotal of course, but why do people think it’s an ethics question when society is individualistic as can be? There is no choice in being born, why don’t we get a choice in when we leave?

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