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The latest annual report from Health Canada shows that a growing number of those put through the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program are lonely, depressed, disabled, and/or suicidal.
The number of Canadians being killed through euthanasia continues to grow, accounting for nearly 5 percent of all deaths in Canada in 2023.
Health Canada, the Canadian government’s department of health, last week released its annual report on the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program, which allows physicians to inject a series of paralytics and anesthetics to accelerate the deaths of qualifying patients.
A total of 15,343 people died through MAID in 2023, a nearly 16 percent increase over 2022.
This far outpaces the rate of growth in other nations with euthanasia. While the Netherlands has the highest rate of euthanasia at 5 percent of deaths, its assisted suicide program began in 2002, so it took 20 years to reach that level. Meanwhile, nations like Belgium and Switzerland, which legalized euthanasia decades before Canada, have seen their rates of euthanasia grow to less than 3 percent of annual deaths.
Canada began euthanizing citizens in 2016 when the country’s Supreme Court legalized it; in the first year, 1,018 Canadians ended their lives through MAID. This accounted for 0.38 percent of deaths. That number skyrocketed over the next six years, with a more than 30 percent increase in the number of people euthanized from 2020 to 2021 and from 2021 to 2022.
In 2022, 13,241 people were killed through MAID.
While the rate of increase did slow slightly in 2023, the rapid increase in euthanasia, as well as Canada’s liberalization of it to allow even those who are not terminally ill to choose doctor-enabled suicide, has many calling it a cautionary tale for any state or country considering a similar program.
Health Canada’s annual report also adds more evidence to those who claim that euthanasia is cruel and harmful to both patients and their families.
Of the 15,343 people who died through euthanasia, 622 of those were not terminally ill.
Canada allows those with a “serious or incurable illness, disease or disability” or “an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability” and who “have enduring and intolerable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated under conditions the person considers acceptable” to choose euthanasia.
The report categorizes those with a terminal illness as “Track 1” and those with another issue “Track 2.”
Dr. Sonu Gaind, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, stated, “It’s particularly concerning for the path to MAID for disabled people who are not otherwise dying, because in that path, the nature of suffering parallels the traditional markers of suicide. That includes things like feeling a burden and a strong sense of loneliness.”
Clinicians also reported the reasons that patients gave for requesting MAID. On average physicians reported five reasons for each person.
The highest reason for both the terminally ill and those without a terminal illness was “Loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities” at 95.5 percent and 96.3 percent, respectively. However, two of the other reasons given are causing major concern among human rights advocates.
Of those without a terminal illness, 47.1 percent said “isolation or loneliness” was why they requested doctor-assisted suicide while 49.2 percent thought they were a “burden on family, friends or caregivers.”
Gaind argued, “The only reason they died last year was because they were provided MAID. We’re talking about people, in some cases, that had more than 10 years to live. That should raise some red flags.”
A person’s living situation could also come into play in their decision to choose MAID. Those without a terminal illness who died through MAID were more likely to be living alone and more than twice as likely to be living in a residential care facility or an institution than those with a terminal illness.
Those without a terminal illness who went through MAID were also far less likely to live with family. Nearly 46 percent of those in Track 1 were living with family compared to just 32.8 percent of those in Track 2.
Canada’s parliament passed laws to open up MAID to those suffering solely from mental illnesses, but that has since been delayed until 2027. Still, critics believe mental health is playing a prominent role in people requesting MAID.
Despite the criticism of MAID, it has not stopped other countries from considering similar programs. In November, the U.K.’s House of Commons voted 330-275 to advance the assisted dying bill, which will allow patients in England and Wales to opt for euthanasia if their doctors attest that they have six months or less to live.
In addition to the previously discussed countries, Spain, Australia, Portugal, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Colombia, Ecuador, South Korea, and 10 states in the U.S. (as well as the District of Columbia) also allow some form of medical assistance in dying.
Orlando Da Silva, a Canadian lawyer who has suffered with severe depression since he was nine years old, says that people with mental health struggles need help, not euthanasia.
Da Silva, who is now 56, has attempted suicide multiple times and experiences major depressive episodes every 18 to 24 months. He said he has used more than 40 different antidepressants, 13 electroconvulsive shock treatments, and ketamine treatments, but nothing medical has worked.
Instead, he has learned to manage his depression and the possibility of a depressive episode by relying on a support network and a 10-point scale system that helps family or friends recognize when it’s time to stage an intervention.
He also copes better now by reminding himself that his episodes will pass.
“I just push myself through one day at a time,” he explains. “Sometimes it’s one hour at a time, one minute at a time, one breath until the next one. Because I know it doesn’t last forever, but when I’m in that moment, I think it will, and there’s nothing anyone can say to convince me.”
He says the MAID program “scares me to death.”
“If it was available earlier, I would have chosen it in 1994,” he admits. “I would have tried it and I would have asked for it in 2002, in 2004, in 2008, and when I attempted my suicide in 2012, in 2014. And I’m alive because it’s not available now and because I failed in 2008.”
He says that having a medical professional offer MAID confirms the voice in a person’s head telling them that the pain will stop if they could just die.
“We need to help. We need to give hope. Don’t need an easy death….I want us to be a better society than that,” Da Silva argues. “If they say we’re judged by how we treat our most vulnerable, how do we treat people with mental illness who want to die?”
Despite his earlier suicidal ideations and attempts, Da Silva is now thankful to be alive.
“Thank God I didn’t succeed, thank God I failed because if I had succeeded, I would never have met my wife,” he stated. “I never would have had my three beautiful daughters. I never would have had the rewarding personal and professional career I’ve had since and I would never have learned all that’s beautiful in this world from them.”
Sadly, there are times in many people’s lives that if they were given the option of euthanasia, they would probably take it. This is even more true for those who have long-term physical or mental health issues that they must fight with each day.
This report shows a sobering reality. People are hurting, isolated, and in desperate need of both the love of Christ and the love of other human beings.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult for those with diseases, disabilities, or mental health issues to develop and maintain relationships with others and to find some happiness in life.
That is where Christians need to take initiative. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, NASB1995, states,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
Christians should be seeking ways to help those in pain.
Do you know someone with cancer? Reach out to them, or if they are able to receive visitors, go visit with them and take them a hot meal.
Do you know someone who has a disability and cannot move around well? Help them with things that need to be done around their home and spend quality with them or offer to help take them out for lunch or dinner or to do something fun or interesting outside their home.
Do you know someone with mental health problems? Text them and tell them you love them. Find what they love to do and try to help them enjoy an activity that is low stress for them. Be patient and understanding with what they are going through. And let them know that you are praying for them and that God still has a purpose and a plan for their lives — even if they can’t see it in the moment.
The idea that Western governments are justifying and enabling doctor-assisted killing of its lonely, depressed, disabled, and/or suicidal citizens is an indication of how far Western societies have turned from God and their recognition of His sovereignty over our lives.
As Christians, we must step up and be the Church — the hands and feet of Christ — and reach out to our neighbors and even strangers, provide them with love and Gospel hope, and help each other through life.
And we must speak the truth and remind others that God is the author of life and death — not the medical profession and not the government. He alone should decide the hour of death because He alone knows His purposes and plans for each and every life — even during those final moments and final breaths.
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