Euthanasia

Heather Pressdee faces grave charges for killing 17 patients by administering excessive insulin doses. She targeted both diabetic and non-diabetic patients, often choosing overnight shifts to evade immediate hospitalization. The victims’ ages spanned from 43 to 104. Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Michelle Henry, expressed profound dismay at a nurse betraying the trust of patients and underscored the paramount need for safety and care in medical facilities. Unreported murders may be occurring in care homes across Canada and the USA. Canada’s euthanasia law lacks adequate oversight, relying solely on the opinions of two medical professionals without robust checks. The substantial number of euthanasia-related deaths in Canada in 2022, totaling 13,241, raises concerns about the law’s oversight and implementation.

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The legalization of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) in Canada has significant implications for palliative care and societal attitudes. MAiD is presented as a therapeutic option to patients, even without their request. There is a concerning lack of development in palliative care, with only 15% of those who need it having access, and a shortage of pain management specialists. In 2022, nearly 20% of euthanized Canadians didn’t receive palliative care. The Canadian Cancer Society highlights the growing deficit in quality palliative care, particularly in homes with few beds. Canada has fallen 10 places in international palliative care rankings since legalizing assisted dying, and public approval of MAiD, even without conditions, has risen, particularly regarding economically vulnerable individuals.

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A study investigates bereavement outcomes following Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). Several studies found that bereaved family members or friends of individuals who chose MAID often experienced poor outcomes, including conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, complicated grief, depression, and anxiety. Protective factors for better bereavement outcomes included preparedness for death, place of death, a sense of control and autonomy, reduction in suffering, and the ability to support the patient’s end-of-life wishes. However, risk factors were also identified, such as moral concerns about MAID, ambivalence, poor end-of-life communication, social stigma, less time with the person choosing MAID, and the emotional burden of preparation for death. These factors contribute to a complex and multifaceted experience for bereaved individuals in the context of MAID.

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Claire Dirks has a genetic neurodegenerative disease. Two years ago, her father, suffering from the same disease, chose euthanasia. In a webinar, Claire testifies about the impact of euthanasia on relatives. She describes her successive shocks: the announcement of her father’s choice, the speed of the procedure (1 month), the procedure itself (her father had 3 interviews with a psychologist via skype). Claire understands there are caregivers who defend life but deplores that very often the medical profession does not offer alternative options and at times even encourages the process. Euthanasia is not an alternative to suffering, which is part of life. Claire defends the audacity to live. Being ready to help and support remains a duty in our individualized society.

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In the first 10 months of 2022 the number of reported assisted deaths exceeded all of last year, from 3102 to 3213 according to the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario. 13,011 assisted deaths in Ontario have been reported since euthanasia was legalised. According to the Third Annual report, from legalisation until December 31, 2021, the number of assisted deaths increased by 32.4% representing 3.3% of all deaths in Canada. Canada’s Federal Government established a committee to discuss further expansions of euthanasia for incompetent people, for children and for people with mental illness alone. Bill C-7 already approved euthanasia for mental illness. A recent presentation by the Quebec College of Physicians urged the Federal Government to permit infant euthanasia.

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Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and Patty Hajdu, minister of Indigenous Services, annonced on Parliament Hill in Ottawa that the canadien federal government is pouring $11 million into a national strategy aimed at preventing suicide among Inuit. The National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy (created in 2016) estimates suicide rates in Inuit five to 25 times higher than the rate in the rest of Canada. Help lines, counselling websites and association put their strength together to help the ones who “wants to take their life” and “support people through those dark times.” Euthanasia was legalised the same year and is responsible for or 3.3% of Canadian deaths, between 2020 and 2021 its practice increased by 32%.

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Robert Holcman is a hospital director and university professor. He raises paradoxes of euthanasia:  While physical and psychological suffering are much better taken care of than fifty years ago, why think today about shortening the end of life? Some are implementing ways to dramatically extend the lifespan of a healthy human being to 130 years, while others are considering legislation to shorten the life of human beings. Our society forbids being able to commit suicide freely, develops suicide prevention programs, and paradoxically thinks about ways to ensure that people can ask to be “suicided”. To conclude, where to put the limit once we have begun to cross the ban on killing? According to him, euthanasia is a social injustice.

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Le Promeneur immobile (The Motionless Walker), by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo. Published 31/8/22.

The French autobiography denounces the “tyranny of performance and autonomy” which would like to eliminate, out of selfishness, the “weight” of disability. In a story he explains the difference between his two lives, that of the able-bodied man and that of the quadriplegic, “that of the senses, noisy and agitated, and the other, insensitive, suffering and inert”. “To what encumbers us so much, competition, normality, productivity, efficiency, appearance respond to silence, relationship, simplicity, intimacy, assumed dependence. » This reflection leads him to denounce euthanasia which is a “violence done to the humiliated, as well as to their companions and caregivers”. He criticizes society for its inability to support, with respect and dignity, people at the end of life.

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President Macron wishes to establish a “legal framework” concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide which has been illegal in France until now. In this context, two philosophers and a journalist comment: Euthanasia is an anthropological rupture: Society is not just a juxtaposition of individual freedoms. We are bound. A law can be repressive, but it is also expressive: it translates the values ​​of a society. No one is alone in this gesture. This causes shocks throughout society. Helping someone to die is saying to him: yes, your life is indeed worth nothing. It is breaking a civilizing taboo. We will no longer call killing the name of killing but it is the right to kill that will be legalized.

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On Tuesday 6^th September 2022, The Health Committee of Uruguay’s Lower House has passed a bill approving euthanasia. “Any person of legal age, psychically fit, who suffers from one or more chronic, incurable and irreversible pathologies or health conditions that seriously undermine their quality of life, causing them unbearable suffering, has the right to be euthanized at their request”. A patient who wishes to receive assistance in dying must go through a series of stages and medical interviews before his/her request is approved: interview with two different physicians within a period of no more than ten days, record in writing of his/her will to die before two witnesses in the three following days of the last interview. The Ministry of Public Health (MSP) must be informed.

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