In a country like Canada, which has surpassed the world in putting its citizens to death through euthanasia, how do people begin to view suicide?
Promoters of assisted suicide go to great lengths to deny that what is happening is a for of medically sanctioned suicide. The current MA bill, and laws in other states, prohibit the process from being called “suicide” – four times!
A qualified patient’s act of self-administering medical aid in dying medication obtained pursuant to this act shall not constitute suicide or have an effect upon any life, health, or accident insurance or annuity policy.
Actions taken by health care providers and patient advocates supporting a qualified patient exercising his or her rights pursuant to this chapter, including being present when the patient self-administers medical aid in dying medication, shall not for any purpose, constitute elder abuse, neglect, assisted suicide, mercy killing, or homicide under any civil or criminal law.
State regulations, documents and reports shall not refer to the practice of medical aid in dying under this chapter as “suicide” or “assisted suicide.”
Nothing in this chapter may be construed to authorize a physician or any other individual to end a patient’s life by lethal injection, mercy killing, assisted suicide, or active euthanasia.
This is because one of the interests the State protects is suicide prevention. So simply by calling it something else, the State no longer takes an interest? However, in case anyone with a brain thinks a fundamental difference exists, testimony from those who have accessed MAiD in Canada – and would again – make it clear that they are one and the same.
The following clips have been extracted from Is it too easy to die in Canada? Surprising approvals for medically assisted death, a documentary by The Fifth Estate. I provided a link to the full 45 minute documentary as well. I found it striking how these two people spoke of choosing suicide as if it were like any other. Doctors, too, accept it as just another treatment option among many even in the setting of a healthcare system failure or obvious clinical depression, as demonstrated by these two interviews.
Here is the documentary in its entirety.
Nature and dignity 