Only cancer, heart disease, COVID-19, accidents and strokes ranked higher than medically-assisted suicide as causes of deaths in 2022
Author of the article:
Bryan Passifiume
Published Aug 09, 2024 • Last updated 1week ago • 2 minute read
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Despite promises of a“stringently limited, carefully monitored system of exceptions,” medically-assisted death is now the fifth-leading cause of death in Canada, says a newly-released report.
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The report, released this week by Canadian think-tank Cardus, paints a bleak portrait of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAiD) regime, which according to the report has seen a thirteen-fold rise in participants since its 2016 legalization.
“In less than a decade, euthanasia has gone from being a rare exception — as was originally intended by proponents, by policymakers, by the courts, by even the lead lawyer for the plaintiff in Carter v. Canada, to a routine cause of death in Canada,” said study author Alexander Raikin, a visiting fellow with the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Centre.
“We’ve seen that between 2016 and 2022, deaths from euthanasia have grown 13 times higher than when we originally started,” he said. “In short, Canada has the fastest-growing euthanasia regime of anywhere in the world.”
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According to the report, 1,018 people died via medically-assisted suicide in 2016.
That’s compared to 13,241 reported deaths in 2022, the most recent year in which data was available.
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That made medically-assisted death — responsible for 4% of all deaths in 2022 — the fifth leading cause of death in Canada that year, with only cancer (82,412,) heart disease (57,357,) COVID-19 (19,716,) accidents (18,365) and cerebrovascular diseases (13,915) ranking higher.
“This is larger than almost anywhere else except for the Netherlands, a country that’s had decriminalized euthanasia for decades,” Raikin said. “So you have a new program that was meant to be limited and meant to be rare, and we find that it is no longer an option of last resort.”
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Canada’s enthusiastic response to euthanasia has raised a number of eyebrows around the world, with both disability and human rights advocates reacting with alarm.
In a Feb. 2021 letter from the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, concerns were expressed that Canada’s euthanasia regime may violate the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Anticipated expansions of Canada’s MAiD regime to include those suffering from mental illness, expected to come into force this year, have now been pushed back to 2027.
It was nearly two years ago when Veterans Affairs Canada came under heavy scrutiny after several Canadian Forces members and veterans seeking mental health and transitional support were instead offered medically-assisted suicide by caseworkers.
One Canadian combat veteran said they were offered MAiD repeatedly by caseworkers.
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