In 2016, Canada dramatically liberalized its rules regarding physician-administered suicide. A new law will take effect in March making “medical assistance in dying,” or MAID, available to those who suffer from mental illness alone. Brian Bird comments on the slippery slope the country appears to be sliding down:
As of 2022, euthanasia was virtually tied with cerebrovascular disease as the fifth-leading cause of death in Canada (with only accidents, COVID-19, cancer, and heart disease causing more deaths). In each of the preceding years starting in 2016, the number of deaths by euthanasia grew significantly. Between 2019 and 2022, the average increase was just over 31 percent per year.
These statistics reveal disturbing truths about what happens when a society legalizes euthanasia. Canadians have been told by advocates, legislatures, and courts that euthanasia is a basic good. But in truth, euthanasia teaches that human dignity is degradable rather than enduring. It creates hierarchies of personhood by calling into question the worth and value of certain individuals based on their strengths and abilities—things that, by nature, are mutable. This is always and everywhere a fundamental injustice. In Canada, this injustice is surfacing in deeply damaging ways.
Read more on Public Discourse: https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/12/92075/