In January Canada will become part of a growing movement to euthanize the mentally ill in what seems a Hitleresque move to rid their populous of defective people. The soon-to-be new law is currently being challenged but is expected to pass according to a report by the Psychiatric Times:
“Canada is the latest nation to legalize voluntary death for psychiatric conditions. In 2016, Canada passed Bill C-14, a law permitting medical euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, together known as medical aid in dying (MAID). By November 2020, more than 19,000 individuals nearing the end of life had been voluntarily euthanized.
A key eligibility criterion of this law was that a patient’s natural death is predicted to be reasonably foreseeable, a unique Canadian terminology that was not statutorily defined. Although it was associated with the end of life, how close was never decided. Because death from mental disorders was not seen as strongly predictable, mental illnesses were not considered eligible conditions. This feature of the law was a check on the kind of psychiatric euthanasia practiced in the Benelux countries.
In 2019, however, a Quebec Superior Court ruling challenged the constitutionality of restricting the C-14 right of euthanasia to those whose death is reasonably foreseeable.
As a result, a new federal bill was introduced to extend euthanasia eligibility, without limiting it to the end of life. This new initiative, Bill C-7, followed the Benelux model; it and removed the prior exclusion of those who have non-terminal chronic illnesses and permitted euthanasia for those whose psychological or physical suffering is deemed intolerable and untreatable.”
Currently, several countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, allow patients who are suicidal to receive death by either lethal injection (euthanasia) or a self-administered prescription for lethal medication (assisted suicide). In 2002 Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (all 3 collectively known as Benelux) legalized both these practices.
As a citizen of the US, this concerns us all because the current administration strives to align itself with all of the above nations in terms of laws and policies.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.
