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: Killing is Canada’s national pastime.
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
Have a moral objection to your hospital being used to kill patients? Canada doesn’t care.
“Health facilities run by religious groups opposed to medical assistance in dying should allow non-staff doctors to carry out the procedure in their hospitals, the lawyer for a pro-MAID group argued Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
“It’s unconstitutional to require patients to ‘transfer away from their care team to access a medical service’ not for any medical reason or lack of resources, but ‘entirely on the basis of a religious belief those patients do not share,’” argued Dying with Dignity lawyer Robin Gage on the first day of a four-week constitutional challenge against Providence Health Care, a Catholic health care agency.”
Canada’s healthcare system is so bad, it takes years to get healthcare, but only days to be killed.
“What a bitter tragedy. Ill and disabled Canadians with non-life-threatening but serious conditions have no assurance of prompt medical care, and some people wait in agony for many months — or, as in this case, years — to receive proper clinical services.
“At the same time, in Canada, disabled and non-terminally-ill patients are eligible for euthanasia, and the homicide can take place within 90 days of the patient’s being deemed qualified. For patients whose deaths are ‘reasonably foreseeable,’ there is no waiting time required once eligibility has been established.”
In Canada, healthcare is for dogs and euthanasia for humans.
“In a chilling echo of the 1970s science fiction movie Logan’s Run, Canada now euthanizes more humans through its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program than it does dogs in animal shelters each year. Recent figures indicate approximately 16,425 Canadians were euthanized in 2024, compared to around 7,644 dogs euthanized annually in shelters — a ratio exceeding 2:1. This underscores a broader trend: Since MAID’s legalization in 2016, the program has grown exponentially, raising questions about the perverse incentives of a society that values GDP over human life, the proper purpose of healthcare, and government involvement in death.
“MAID was introduced following the Supreme Court’s 2015 Carter v. Canada ruling, which struck down bans on assisted suicide for those with grievous and irremediable conditions. Initially limited to terminally ill adults, eligibility expanded in 2021 to include non-terminal chronic illnesses. By 2024, MAID accounted for 5.1 percent of all deaths in Canada, with 16,499 provisions — a 6.9-percent increase from 2023, though growth rates have slowed since peaking at 31.1 percent in 2022. The cumulative total reached 76,475 by year’s end, on track to surpass 100,000 by mid-2026, nearing the program’s 10th anniversary. This figure eclipses Canada’s World War II battle deaths (42,042) and highlights MAID as the fifth leading cause of death nationwide.”
TTFN.
