Doctors in Canada have claimed that they are not being paid enough money for carrying out assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Government legalised the practices in June 2016, making them available to people whose natural death is considered to be “reasonably foreseeable”.
Last month, two doctors claimed that assisting people to kill themselves is financially “untenable”. In contrast to the UK system, doctors in Canada are generally paid by the provincial and/or central Government on a “fee-for-service” basis.
‘Financial suicide’
In an article published in MacLean’s Magazine, Canada’s national current affairs and news magazine, Dr Tanja Daws from British Columbia claimed that it was “not sustainable” to continue killing people under the law.
“It’s not for lack of wanting, but it’s financial suicide”, she said.
And the Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Dr Jesse Pewarchuk, who also operates in British Columbia, will no longer be accepting referrals as it is “economically untenable”.
Dr Pewarchuk, who has reportedly helped 20 people commit suicide, said: “I unfortunately can no longer justify including it in my practice”.
Complaining
Doctors are reportedly paid $313.15 for euthanising a patient in British Columbia.
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has slammed the euthanasia lobby for complaining “that it doesn’t pay enough”.
In January, a study was widely criticised for claiming that the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia could save more than $100 million per year for the Canadian health care system.
Michel MacDonald, Executive Director of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, said it was a “sad day” to see human life being valued in terms of cost-benefit analysis.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, a report by the country’s Parliament Health Select Committee on assisted suicide has found that eighty per cent of New Zealanders are opposed to legalising assisted suicide.
The committee had been set up in response to calls for the legalisation of both assisted suicide and euthanasia.
More than 21,000 people made a submission on the issue, with Committee chairman Simon O’Connor saying that the arguments made against assisted suicide were “quite compelling”.
On two occasions, in 1995 and 2003, Bills attempting to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia have been struck down by the New Zealand Parliament at the first reading.