By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Jocelyn Downie, one of the world’s leading “academic” euthanasia (MAiD) promoters and Mona Gupta, a psychiatrist who has been promoting euthanasia for mental illness alone, responded to the Québec Commission on MAiD that recently decided to support euthanasia for incompetent people, but would not support euthanasia for people with mental illness alone.
The response titled: Québec’s Commission on MAiD misses the mark on mental disorders was published by Policy Options on March 2. Downie and Gupta argue that the Québec Commission on MAiD are not following the same play book as the rest of Canada by rejecting euthanasia for mental illness alone. Downie and Gupta state:
Unfortunately, this recommendation is out of step with the evolving thinking on this issue found in jurisprudence, federal legislation and the recommendations of Quebec’s regulatory authorities and professional associations. It is also based on misleading statements and logical inconsistencies.
Downie and Gupta explain that Canadian court decisions have not excluded euthanasia for mental illness alone and the federal government approved euthanasia for mental illness alone when it passed Bill C-7 last year.
What is more interesting about the article is how their arguments supporting euthanasia for mental illness alone provide a strong argument as to why euthanasia should never be legalized. Downie and Gupta state:
If people with mental disorders can access MAiD, the commission worries whether suicidality can be distinguished from a request for MAiD in such cases. However, this, too, is not exclusive to people whose mental disorders are their sole underlying condition. People with certain types of cancer (including lung and pancreatic cancer) are at higher risk of committing suicide than the general population in the first six to 12 months following diagnosis. Yet, this group’s increased risk of suicidality does not lead to exclusion. Instead, the request is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the totality of the individual’s circumstances.
Therefore, people with certain types of cancer (including lung and pancreatic cancer) are more likely to seek an assisted death in the first 6 to 12 months following a diagnosis. By legalizing euthanasia these people are more likely to seek death by euthanasia. If euthanasia is not legal these people are more likely to accept effective treatment and more likely to survive their cancer diagnosis.
For instance, a study by Dr. Sara Moore, a University of Ottawa medical oncologist examined 45 euthanasia (MAiD) deaths of people with lung cancer living in the Ottawa region. She concluded that people with lung cancer who died by euthanasia were less likely to consult with a radiation or medical oncologist, many did not seek a confirmation of their condition and they were less likely to undergo effective treatments.
Euthanasia is never an answer to human difficulties. We need a society that cares not kills its citizens.
Editor’s note. This appeared at Mr. Schadenberg’s blog and is reposted with permission.
