Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: Life is hard and good times rare; death is easy and escape is normal
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
Switzerland, the home of financially inclined gnomes, is going ahead with killing people by putting them in pods and letting the suicidal push a button to die.
“An assisted-suicide advocacy group in Switzerland has announced that a first-of-its-kind portable ‘suicide pod’ will soon be available for widespread use by people wishing to end their lives without medical supervision.
“The Sarco device, short for sarcophagus, is a sealed capsule which enables the person inside to press a button that rapidly replaces the oxygen inside the pod with nitrogen gas, resulting in death by hypoxia. Marketed as a ‘beautiful way [to die]’ by its supporters, the ghoulish and futuristic-looking capsule essentially amounts to a single-person gas chamber.”
And this will just be for the terminally ill who suffer debilitating pain who just want to die with dignity, right?
Nah, they’re using it to subsidize the killing of the poor.
“Citizens in Switzerland who are too poor to afford basic necessities are being offered the chance to be euthanized at a discounted price, the government announced on Wednesday.
“The portable suicide pods will be used for the first time in Switzerland, allowing people will various illnesses, mental issues, or social problems to end their life for just $20.”
In Canada, euthanasia (euphemistically referred to as “medical assistance in dying”) has increased by 1300% in just six years.
“Contrary to repeated official statements by the Government of Canada, Canadian ‘medical assistance in dying’ (MAiD) is the world’s fastest-growing assisted-dying program. In 2016, the first full year in which assisted dying was legal in Canada, 1,018 Canadians died by MAiD. The number has increased thirteenfold since then, and in 2022, the last year for which data are available, more than thirty-six MAiD deaths occurred per day, on average. MAiD is effectively tied with cerebrovascular diseases as the fifth most frequent cause of death in 2022. Only deaths from cancer, heart disease, COVID-19, and accidents surpass the number of deaths from MAiD.
“This increase dramatically exceeds the projections of Health Canada. In May of 2022, for instance, Health Canada predicted that by 2033, MAiD deaths would stabilize at 4 percent of total deaths, a figure that was double its first public prediction of a ‘steady state’ in MAiD barely four years prior. Yet, Health Canada’s estimate was proven to be inaccurate even before the end of 2022. Health Canada’s fourth annual report on MAiD, released in October 2023, revealed that Canada surpassed the 4 percent mark in 2022—in effect, eleven years ahead of schedule.
“The growing number of MAiD deaths, and the continued expansion of eligibility criteria, is far beyond the expectations set in Carter v. Canada, the court case that decriminalized assisted dying in 2015. Consequently, MAiD is now far more than exceptional: it is routine. Almost no MAiD requests are denied by clinicians, and the median time between written request and death from MAiD in 2022 was merely eleven days. Despite judges’ and policymakers’ claims or expectations, MAiD is no longer an option of ‘last resort.’”
The problem, for some, is that not enough people are dying.
“In Canada, doctors suggest being killed to their patients. Imagine what that would feel like! Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
“Not so in California:
“‘It appears the institutions are reluctant to mention medical aid in dying, even though they are willing to describe other services like hospice that are available only to people equally close to death.
“‘There is evidence that physicians are also reluctant to mention medical aid in dying when discussing options with a terminally ill patient for fear of upsetting the patient.’
“Well, assisted suicide isn’t really health care. But I digress.
“The answer to too few suicides? Doctors and hospitals should publicize the agenda:
“‘Are thousands of Californians each year missing out on a legal right to control their suffering or at least to make a fully informed choice? To better inform Californians, we must encourage our state health department and our health care institutions to have information readily available on their websites about how to access medical aid in dying. Likewise, we need providers to respect patient autonomy by ensuring we are fully informed about all the legally approved end-of-life choices, including medical aid in dying.’
“This column proves the lie that assisted suicide is really thought of by its boosters as merely a ‘rare’ option. Activists want assisted suicide normalized well beyond the terminally ill so that we become euthanasia enthusiasts — as in Canada, where euthanasia is the fifth-leading cause of death, and rising. Indeed, almost every state that legalized assisted suicide has already liberalized their laws.”
TTFN.
