Canada is pushing the vulnerable down a ‘euthanasia death funnel’

Canada has come under fire for making it easier for patients to access euthanasia than medical help.

Rose Finlay, a 33-year-old who suffers paralysis from the neck down, said there is a “huge and detrimental discrepancy” where it can take up to eight months to receive disability support money, but only takes around three months to qualify for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID).

In an Instagram post she explained: “I’m dying because I don’t have access to care not because I’m terminally ill”.

‘Disgusting’

Canada legalised euthanasia in certain circumstances in 2016, but has already abolished the requirement for a person to be terminally ill and intends to extend it to those who suffer from mental health problems from next year.

Former military veteran Kelsi Sheren developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the Afghanistan war and now campaigns against the expansion of euthanasia.

“When you take people who were willing to put their lives on the line for you, for your safety, then you have the audacity to tell them it’s better if you just die…it is one of the most disgusting things”.

“It’s unacceptable, and it is one of the most infuriating things to come down from the Canadian administration in the last decade.”

Poor and vulnerable

Speaking to The Daily Mail, President of the Patients’ Rights Action Fund Matt Vallière said: “Vulnerable, disabled, economically disadvantaged people and minorities are being driven to opt for death because medical suicide has become the lesser of the healthcare evils to which they have access.”

He added: “People who need support are shunted into a ‘utilitarian death-funnel'”.

In April, Canadian bioethicists Professor Amy Mullin and Kayla Wiebe published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics claiming that euthanasia “should be available” for people “in unjust social circumstances”.

The University of Toronto academics wrote that it was “unacceptable” to expect people to wait for difficult social circumstances to improve, rather than letting them choose to be killed by a medic.

People who need support are shunted into a ‘utilitarian death-funnel’

Palliative care

In the province of British Columbia, pro-euthanasia group Dying With Dignity Canada is pushing the regional Government to force Roman Catholic hospitals to carry out euthanasia.

In line with its religious beliefs, St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver does not offer euthanasia and recently transferred a patient to another hospital after they asked to be killed. But Dying With Dignity is using the case to attempt to block the hospital from receiving taxpayer funding.

Angelina Ireland, President of Delta Hospice Society, said: “If they get their way that means no sanctuaries for the dying, be it faith-based or purely palliative care oriented”.

In 2021, Delta Hospice Society lost $1.5 million in public funding and was evicted from its premises in the province because it refused to allow euthanasia.