EDITOR: Another step down the slippery slope

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A recent coroner’s report from Ontario raised eyebrows about who receives assisted suicide and why.

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When the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) legislation was adopted in 2016, it was hailed as a progressive, humane measure to help people whose death was reasonably foreseeable.

Following constitutional challenges in 2021, the law was extended to allow MAiD to die on “Track 2”. These are disabled people whose death was not immediately predictable.

In an online publication Conversationfunded by the University of Toronto, psychiatry professor Karandeep Sonu Gaind said that a law that was originally intended to alleviate the suffering of the terminally ill has become something else entirely.

“I am not a conscientious objector. I am a psychiatrist and I previously headed the MAiD team in my former hospital,” he says.

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“However, I believe we have experienced a bait and switch: laws initially intended to compassionately help Canadians avoid a painful death have morphed into policies that facilitate the suicides of other Canadians seeking death to escape a painful life.”

The coroner reports a 59-year-old woman with multiple chemical sensitivities who sought MAiD, stating that she was unable to find adequate housing and the support she needed.

Gain points out that track 2 beneficiaries were much more likely to come from the most vulnerable 20% of the population in terms of age and economic activity.

“Individuals in the bottom 20% of the population and with the greatest housing instability represented 48.3% of MAiD track 2 recipients compared to 34.3% of track 1 recipients,” he said.

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This comes as Quebec continues to implement its plan to allow early submission of MAiD applications. The province will now accept applications for MAiD from people with conditions such as dementia before their condition prevents them from giving consent. The federal government has asked Quebec to delay the measure, but is not expected to challenge the decision.

Assisted suicide is a sensitive and very personal issue. Nevertheless, we should pay attention to concerns raised by the medical community. The issues they raise regarding the protection of vulnerable people should not be minimized. The slippery slope turned out to be steep and icy. As a society we have to decide how far we want to go.

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