Canadian man is denied surgery, instantly receives application for ‘assisted dying’

A Canadian man seeking surgery for a workplace-related injury was denied, while forms for requesting ‘medical assistance in dying’ were immediately granted to him.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) republished the shocking story, originally posted at Canadian veteran Kelsi Sheren’s personal blog. The man in question believed the Canadian healthcare system would offer him ‘medical assistance in dying’ (MAiD) before agreeing to surgery, and he was correct. He received the forms for MAiD immediately and was denied surgery.

“Today I received a photo and post from a Dr friend of mine, who pointed out the most wild case of MAiD overreach I’ve seen in a while, and to be frank there has been several a day,” Sheren wrote. 

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the EPC, reached out to the man for clarification. The man told Schadenberg he had been upset by his doctor’s refusals to provide him with surgery and decided to test the system’s corruption by requesting MAiD to see how quickly his request for death would be answered.

“She (the doctor) didn’t push suicide on me,” the man said. “To clarify, I’ve been begging for surgery and they have denied me. If I ask for assisted suicide they have everything ready to go. That’s the point I’m trying to get across. I asked for these forms out of anger and got them immediately.”

Unfortunately, this story is not rare. Live Action News has reported how other Canadian citizens, including veterans, have been refused government assistance for corrective surgery and equipment needed for day-to-day living, and instead have been offered assisted suicide.

READ: Most Canadians concerned about impact of ‘assisted dying’ on vulnerable populations

When Christine Gauthier, a Canadian army veteran and Paralympian in her 50s, requested government assistance with obtaining medical equipment, Veterans Affairs Canada sent her a letter offering to kill her instead of granting her the equipment. “I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAiD, medical assistance in dying… I was like, ‘I can’t believe that you will… give me an injection to help me die, but you will not give me the tools I need to help me live.’ It was really shocking to hear that kind of comment,” Gauthier said in an interview.

Veteran Mark Meincke related how a caseworker thrust the idea of assisted suicide on him. “I was asking for a completely separate service and supports for neurological injuries and [the caseworker] said, ‘Oh, just by the way, if, up the road, you have suicidal thoughts… [MAID is] better than blowing your brains out against the wall,’” Meincke said.

Canadian journalist Sheila Gunn Reid followed a 2,200-page paper trail from the Veterans Affairs Ministry documenting veterans’ cases, and found that caseworkers repeatedly suggested MAiD to ailing veterans. Veteran Affairs Canada covered up the cases when they caused a scandal.

“Nearly a dozen veterans experiencing acute post-traumatic stress disorder or asking for aids to daily living to deal with their service-related injuries came forward over recent years to say that their Veterans Affairs Canada case workers suggested a medically assisted death to them,” Reid reported.

Euthanasia is presented in Canada and in other countries as compassionate health care and as a human right by those who lobby for it. But in reality, MAiD laws are often abused to kill vulnerable people to save governments and individuals the cost of caring for the sick, the weak, and those with disabilities.

Sheren wrote about how this is true in Canada. “MAID was sold to the public as a lie[;] it was supposed to be a compassionate choice available to people facing unbearable, incurable suffering — never a convenient alternative to providing actual medical care. Yet, it is now dangerously obvious that it has become a shortcut for a strained healthcare system drowning under financial and staffing pressures.”