Canada: is euthanasia a 'solution' for the poor and homeless?

Doctors are proud to have helped 300 to 400 people die, specifically homeless people using euthanasia as the only way out. The Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program is under investigation after several people claimed they were offered euthanasia as a way out because they were poor, homeless, or living in distress. The number of people taking advantage of this initiative has been growing steadily in recent years, exceeding 10,000 in 2021. As of March 2023, these figures are expected to increase significantly, since the assumption of "intolerable mental suffering" will be added.

Several doctors have condemned that the End-of-Life Service has performed interventions on people who, according to the law, which is one of the most permissive in the world on this matter, should not have been subjected to them. For example, Dr. Ellen Wiebe from Dying with Dignity, acknowledged at a seminar that she helped a man die when his MAID assistant had denied service because he didn't have a serious illness or "ability to make informed decisions about his own personal health," as stated in the The New Atlantis.

Euthanasia: "The most rewarding work"

The man managed to reach Wiebe, who via video chat, deemed him fit and found a second assessor, due to the fact that two doctors' signatures are required, who agreed. The doctor recalled that "he flew himself to Vancouver. I picked him up at the airport, took him to my clinic and provided for him" (euthanized him). Wiebe estimates that she has helped about 400 people to die and is proud of it: "It's the most rewarding work we've ever done. Her colleague, obstetrician Stephane Green, who has performed 300 euthanasias, claimed that "the act of offering the option of assisted dying is one of the most therapeutic things we do."

When the law was passed in 2016, the authorities guaranteed that it would never be used to get rid of homeless people. In 2019, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured that people will be able to choose assisted dying "in a way that's not because you're not getting the supports and care that you really need." These statements were made during his campaign in a push to expand the cases for which euthanasia is available. Since legalization until 2021, it was only authorized for patients whose condition was so severe that death was imminent. As of 2021, people whose physical condition is considered "intolerable" were added. In March 2023 those who indicate intolerable psychological pain may be included in the program.

From imminent death to "intolerable" psychological pain

However, the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers, the country's largest organization of euthanasia services, has found credible evidence provided by its own members that there are people "driven to euthanasia" by credit card debt, homelessness, lack of housing or difficulties in receiving medical care. These are people with some type of serious illness, but who make the request seeking relief from another type of suffering. The problem, according to several physicians, is that the system facilitates the path to death more than solving or alleviating the situation that leads these patients to want to die.

This is the case for Althea Gibb-Carsley, now retired, but a former care coordinator and social worker for Vancouver Coastal Health's assisted dying program. Gibb-Carsley presented three examples of people who came to her for help in ending their lives due to socioeconomic problems. For example, she spoke of a woman with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, which could be combated with a proper diet, medication and physiotherapy, something she could not afford. Other cases involved a former physician who was in a car accident and became a paraplegic or a 57-year-old writer with diabetes, heart problems, anxiety and depression, who ended up seeking MAID's services.

Failure of social services

For Gibbs-Carsley, the problem is not so much the legalization of euthanasia, but the failure of Canadian social services. If a counselor wants, in compliance with the law, to offer alternatives to euthanasia, these "will not be quick." It seems that the only option left for these people is to resort to services to die. Several experts told the Daily Mail that in Canada "choosing to die is more accessible than supporting people with disabilities." "Our silence is our complicity," said Gibb-Carlsey.

However, euthanasia professionals argue that these allegations are just 'click-bait.' This was again called into question following the complaint of former Paralympic athlete Christine Gauthier, who was offered euthanasia by the social worker handling her case when she complained about the delay in the installation of a wheelchair lift in her home. Apparently, she is not the only war veteran (she ended up in a wheelchair during Canadian Army maneuvers) who has received such offers. The situation has reached Trudeau, who called it "absolutely unacceptable" and demanded an investigation.