Police have begun an investigation into the "assisted suicide" of a 61-year-old Canadian woman after her daughters charged that she was not capable of providing her consent due to her mental health.
The Christian Institute in the United Kingdom said the woman, Donna Duncan, had sustained a concussion in a car accident in February 2020, and her physical and mental health declined.
"Her doctor had refused her assisted suicide application, saying her 'mental health really needs to be treated,' but it was subsequently granted by other practitioners," the report explained.
Her daughter, Alicia Duncan, said, "I don’t want this to ever happen to another family ever again. And ultimately I want stronger laws and legislation."
The case is just one of many that together are raising questions about the protections that should be built into such programs.
"Writing in the online magazine Spiked, Dr. Kevin Yuill cited other assisted suicide cases in Canada, including one woman who was killed because she could not find affordable housing to suit her medical needs," the report said.
"Shockingly, many Canadians are now requesting a medically assisted death for economic rather than medical reasons," he said.
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That article documented how "Canada refers to 'euthanasia' and 'assisted suicide' by the friendlier-sounding term of 'medical assistance in dying' (MAID). The MAID programme was first introduced to end the suffering of terminally ill people, but its mission creep is now undeniable."
It cited the case of "Denise," a 31-year-old Toronto woman in a wheelchair who was likely to be granted permission to die "after many attempts to move from her apartment, which she says worsens her severe sensitivities to household chemicals, all failed."
Then, the report explains, there was "Sophia," a 51-year-old woman in Ontario, who also suffered from chemical sensitivities, and was euthanized in February when she could not find affordable housing free of cigarette smoke.
Four doctors, the report said, had recommended to government officials an alternative accommodation for her.
Duncan's daughters noted that she had been on waiting lists for treatment for months, but the approval for her to die came in only four days.
One woman in the program wrote, "An increase [in income support] is the only thing that could save my life. I have no other reason to want to apply for assisted suicide, other than I simply cannot afford to keep on living."
The article noted virtually all of the thousands of MAID cases in Canada in 2020 were actively killed under the program, and warned, "Once the principle of euthanasia is broadly accepted, its rapid advance is unstoppable. The original Bill C-14, which allowed terminally ill people to seek a medically assisted death, was passed in 2016. Bill C-7 was passed into law on 17 March 2021, allowing Canadians who are not near the natural end of their lives the right to seek euthanasia. In March 2023, people suffering from 'grievous and irremediable' mental illnesses will similarly qualify for euthanasia.
"Many qualified psychiatrists believe this is a dangerous situation."
More to the point, government documents reveal that expanding assisted suicide in 2020 would save $87 million in taxpayer-funded healthcare costs per year.
The Institute reported, "Last year, ethicist Dr. Tom Koch of the University of British Columbia confirmed that following Canada's legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide a 'slippery slope' is 'clearly evident,' resulting 'in an expanding class of eligible persons and an ever increasing number of medically induced deaths.'"
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