November 26, 2018 (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) – In yet more evidence of how far Canada has slipped down the euthanasia slippery slope, a hospital in Ontario is advertising “Medical Aid in Dying” in its urgent care waiting room.
Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute writes that a source sent him the above photograph of a public information announcement that appears on a large television screen in a William Osler Health System hospital urgent care waiting room. The same advert can be found on the health system's website.
Killing, not care
The advert tries to appear compassionate, with an image of a male doctor's hand gently resting on the arm of a woman in a hospital bed, and the promise to “help eligible patients fulfill their wish to end their suffering.”
However, as Mr Smith points out, people in a hospital waiting room may be afraid, in pain, or depressed, and so particularly vulnerable to the suggestion that having their lives ended is the best solution. The advert makes no mention of palliative care or genuine medical care to help alleviate suffering in ways that do not involve killing.
Just the latest example
This is not the first time health officials in Ontario have been accused of pushing euthanasia instead of life-affirming medical care and support. In March, Roger Foley, a man with an incurable neurological disease started legal action against the attorney generals of Ontario and Canada for offering medically-assisted death without guaranteeing the option to receive proper care. He says the only options offered to him were to return to a healthcare team that provided substandard care, or medically assisted death.
Other developments which show how sanitised legal killing has become in Canada are proposals to take organs from living people who have chosen euthanasia, and to extend it to the the incompetent and mentally ill, and, horrifyingly, to children.
The advert shows that not only is deliberate killing being normalised, it is becoming a reasonable, and even preferred method of alleviating suffering.
Published with permission from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.