Disability rights group fights euthanasia

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A growing coalition of disability and mental health organizations began to advocate openly against Canada’s liberalized MAID (medical assistance in dying) regime. Post signage assuring patients that assisted suicide is not recommended.

“This organization does not endorse, suggest, or refer you to dying medical assistance as a substitute for assistance in getting the necessary support or services you need.” reads the sign circulated recently On social media by a group called Disability Without Poverty.

The sign was accompanied by a note asking other health organizations to pledge never to recommend MAID as a solution to poverty “whatever you believe”.

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So far, the New Brunswick Disability Coalition has posted signs to members that read ‘You are safe with us’ and ‘Cry out for the help and services you need. Instead of ‘raise the death’, they put up a sign promising not to seek help in death. I need. “

Last week, 50 Canadian disability and anti-poverty nonprofits co-signed letter Urged Justice Minister David Rametti to dial back Canada’s MAID system to stop it from continuing to “euthanize non-terminally handicapped people.”

“We know, just like you, that existing laws are not working and are not working, and people with disabilities are dying because of their living conditions and oppression.The letter was endorsed by various groups ranging from Spinal Cord Injury Canada to Community Food Centers based in Stratford, Ontario.

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MAID was first legalized in Canada in 2016. Initially available only to those whose deaths were “reasonably foreseeable,” subsequent court challenges have allowed the federal government to make all claims for “dire” or “irreversible” conditions. I was forced to extend my qualifications to a person.

Since 2016, Canadian mortality from assisted suicide is increasing dramatically year-on-yearIn 2021 (the last year for which data are available), 10,064 Canadians died from MAID under medical supervision. This increased her 7,630 Canadians who died from his MAID in 2019 by 32.4%, 5,661 people died in practice in 2018.

Among these are a significant number of published cases in which MAID has been approved despite underlying conditions that Canadians may have been able to address through treatment or adequate housing.

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This was also the case with Jennifer Hatch, who appeared in a pro-euthanasia video commissioned by Canadian clothing retailer Simmons titled “All is Beauty.” Following the release of the video, CTV published an interview with her with Hatch that revealed that she had been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome after years of failing to secure care for her Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare disease that attacks the connective tissue of her body. I indicated that I chose her MAID.

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In November, a House committee heard that five Canadian Armed Forces veterans were advised to seek MAID after contacting the Veterans Administration to seek assistance in a situation involving PTSD. In one, a veteran acted on recommendations and died of an assisted suicide before a hearing was called.

Just last month, Ontario woman Jackie Hollyoak told CBC she was considering MAID after her fibromyalgia forced her to live on assisted living.

Representatives of the MAID physician community have publicly stated that no one has been approved for assisted death due to housing, although an internal document from the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers recently obtained by the National Post indicates that: Members do encounter patients who cite poverty as the primary cause of their desire to die.

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But even before many cases of alleged MAID misconduct began making headlines, disability rights groups believed Canada’s move to extend MAID to people without terminal illness would have a devastating impact on the disability community. I warned you that I would give it to you.

In February 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities publicly denounced the liberalization of MAID in Canada. “From a disability rights perspective, there would be grave concerns if euthanasia were made available to all persons with health conditions or impairments … Social assumptions that being dead is better than living with a disability can persist (or be subtly reinforced)wrote Special Rapporteur Gerald Quinn.

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in other news

University of Ontario psychologist It threatened to force social media training on one of its most prominent members, celebrity scholar Jordan Peterson. In a series of documents sent to Peterson, he was told that once the coaching plan was completed, he would be able to “review, reflect and improve” his public statements.

However, Peterson responded in an op-ed for the National Post: He would risk his license to “escape social media reeducation.”

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