Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: Freepik

"Mental health: offering medical assistance in dying to prevent suicide" is the title of an opinion piece published in Le Soleil. The paradox it presents would be laughable were it not for the fact that this is an extremely serious matter.

Just think about it: proposing death to prevent people from killing themselves! Offering suicide to prevent suicide...

This is the proposal of Dr Chantal Descoteaux and Dr Claude Gagnon, who are thankfully currently retired. Their piece is riddled with contradictions from start to finish.

It is said that people who take their own lives are either experiencing a temporary crisis or have been receiving long-term healthcare and have tried all the suggested solutions. Driven by despair, they chose to end their lives. The doctors then go on to say, "Turning a blind eye to this reality does not save any lives." A strange line of thinking, since how exactly does killing suicidal people save lives?

While it is true that this would reduce suicide rates, since assisted suicide is not counted as a suicide, this is a fundamental error since in both cases the person wishes to end their own life.

Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: Pixel-Shot/Adobe Stovk

Of the 900,000 calls to the Suicide Crisis Helpline (9-8-8) from individuals with suicidal thoughts, nearly 7% (or 70,000 calls) mentioned considering assisted suicide.

Dr. Allison Crawford, the helpline's medical director, presented these figures to the "Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying," adding that "when people mention MAID [euthanasia], they exhibit a significantly higher level of suicidal tendencies than those who call or text without mentioning MAID."

Are we really going to extend euthanasia to people suffering from mental illness alone? As pro-life advocates have said from the beginning, once euthanasia is legalized, the barriers will fall one by one.

Notably, 90 organizations supporting people with disabilities or mental illness have signed a letter urging Mark Carney’s Liberal government to repeal the extension of euthanasia to individuals with mental illness alone, which is set to take effect on March 17, 2027.

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Rawpixel.com/Adobe Stock

Catherine Levesque published an article on October 11, 2022 in the National Post. She reports that the Quebec College of Physicians is being criticized by advocacy groups for proposing that euthanasia for critically ill newborns be made legal.

So far, Canada has refused to extend assisted dying to children under the age of 18, although consideration has been given to making it available to "mature minors". Then, in a recent presentation made by Dr. Louis Roy for the Quebec College of Physicians to the House of Commons Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), the federal government of Canada was urged to adopt a protocol to allow euthanasia of seriously ill infants.

Levesque states: Dr. Roy's organization believes that MAID may be appropriate for infants up to one year of age, who are born with "severe malformations" and "severe and life-threatening syndromes" for which their "prospective of survival is virtually null".

In the same article, Krista Carr, Executive Vice-President of Inclusion Canada, expressed being alarmed at Roy's recommendation that Canada legalize euthanasia for children with disabilities under the age of one.

Mrs. Carr added: "Canada cannot begin killing babies when doctors predict there is no hope for them. Predictions are far too often based on discriminatory assumptions about living with a disability. "

She also said: "An infant cannot consent to their own death. That isn't MAID, it's murder. And providing MAID to a person who cannot consent is a standard that is wildly dangerous for all persons with intellectual disabilities in Canada."

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Google/Facebook

CTV News shares the sad story of a 66-year-old Lachine man who asked his doctor for "medical assistance in dying", or assisted suicide, due to the lack of care from his Local community services centres (CLSC) in the Dorval-Lachine borough.

Jacques Comeau is a retired art therapist who suffers from quadriplegia and uses a wheelchair. His disease is a paralysis that affects more or less all four limbs of the body (arms and legs). It involves the loss of muscular functions and sensations, to a variable degree, of the affected limbs. Despite his condition, Mr. Comeau is an independent and active man in the community. He drives, runs his own errands, volunteers and paints in his spare time, according to the CTV News report.

In addition, until now, Mr. Comeau had access to health care at home that had allowed him to live a full and happy life. Unfortunately, this summer, his local health center (CLSC) underwent changes that have had a serious impact on Comeau's daily life. He needs the assistance of caregivers who come 3 times a week to help him clear his bowel. However, for the past month, Mr. Comeau has been experiencing difficulties with the new caregivers, who are unfamiliar with his body and care for him incorrectly, causing him to have bowel accidents at unexpected times of the day. As a result, he can no longer function as he used to because he is constantly preoccupied with his accidents.

Mr. Comeau's case is obviously serious, but why did he rush to assisted suicide? It is because it is an option available to him. It seems that Mr. Comeau's problems, which have only been going on for a month, could be solved in ways other than by a hasty death. Moreover, if he opts for euthanasia, there may be no change in the health care system in Quebec.

In the same vein, might this man be suffering from depression because of the discomforts he has been experiencing for the past month and which would lead him to this drastic decision? Or could it be that he was influenced by the discussion he had with his doctor? If this is a case of a man who is otherwise active, but chooses assisted suicide, we are witnessing a society that is not solving the core problem: that of having a better health service.