(LifeSiteNews) — Pro-life Delta Hospice Society president Angelina Ireland says new proposed guidelines by Health Canada that suggest that medical doctors and nurses mention unsolicited euthanasia as an option for their patients is due to a broken healthcare system that promotes death over life.
“What is Health Canada really saying by adopting this new ‘standard of practice?’” Ireland told LifeSiteNews.
“It would appear that the directive is for doctors and nurses to begin advising their patients that it is more expedient to just kill themselves.”
The new guidelines, called “Model Practice Standard for Medical Assistance in Dying to Ensure Consistent and Safe Practice in Canada,” were released by Health Canada in March. The guidelines were developed by the independent Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) Practice Standards Task Group, which was put together by Health Canada.
Section 6 of the document, titled “Duties to Persons Potentially Eligible for MAID,” reads that doctors and nurses must in effect tell a patient about the MAiD options available to them.
“[Physicians/Nurse Practitioners] must take reasonable steps to ensure persons are informed of the full range of treatment options available to relieve suffering,” subsection 6.1 notes.
Section 6.2 reads, “[Physicians/Nurse Practitioners] must not assume all persons potentially eligible for MAID are aware that MAID is legal and available in Canada.”
Moving on to section 6.3, the guidelines suggest that “Upon forming reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be eligible for MAID, a [physician/nurse practitioner] must determine whether MAID is consistent with the person’s values and goals of care.”
“If consistent,” the doctor/nurse must “advise the person of the potential for MAID; or (b) provide an effective [referral/transfer of care] to another physician, nurse practitioner, or program known to be willing to discuss eligibility for MAID.”
“If not consistent, do not advise the person of the potential for MAID.”
Section 6.4 reads that Physicians/Nurse Practitioners “must” respond to “all reasonable questions from persons regarding MAID or make an effective [referral/transfer of care] to another [physician/nurse practitioner] or program known to be willing to discuss eligibility for MAID.”
The federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau legalized euthanasia in 2016. Since that time, deaths have skyrocketed under its MAiD program and there has also been a continued push to further expand who can qualify for state-sanctioned death.
Allowing MAiD for those suffering solely from mental illness came as part of the 2021 passage of Bill C-7, which also allowed the chronically ill – not just the terminally ill – to qualify for doctor-assisted death.
The mental illness expansion was originally set to take effect in March. However, after massive pushback from pro-life groups, conservative politicians, and others, the Liberals under Trudeau delayed the introduction of the full effect of Bill C-7 until 2024 via Bill C-39, which became law on March 9.
Politicians and doctors blast Health Canada’s MAiD guidelines
Some Canadian politicians took issue with Health Canada’s new MAiD guidelines, calling them “disgusting.”
“Disgusting!” Conservative Senator Denise Batters wrote on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday.
“The Trudeau Govt’s new Health Min. @markhollandlib+ new #MentalHealth Min. @YaaraSaks must fix this!”
Some doctors who are involved in the administration of MAiD are concerned that Canada’s relaxed euthanasia laws are moving too fast.
Dr. Sonu Gaind, who is the head of psychiatry at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and also a former physician chair of the Humber River Hospital MAID team, said he is worried that Canada’s euthanasia laws are too broad.
“The reality is that there’s somebody in front of you that is suffering and coming to the medical professional for help, so they’re in a vulnerable state,” he noted in a iPolitics report.
“And they’re seeking help from someone that they perceive as having expertise to help them.”
Gaind said that when the patient “says, ‘Oh, have you thought about (MAID),’ it’s impossible to pretend that doesn’t also risk coming across as a suggestion.”
Long healthcare waiting lists could be a reason MAiD is being pushed as an option
Ireland told LifeSiteNews that she believes one of the reasons for the federal government, and subsequently medical practitioners, pushing MAiD on their patients could be due to the long “wait lists for treatment in Canada.”
Ireland said that some of these waitlists are “so long” that “a patient will likely just die waiting anyway.”
She noted in her home province of British Columbia that thousands of nurses and doctors who did not get the COVID shots were fired, which could be why MAiD is being promoted as an option for people to ease healthcare system strain due to self-inflicted staff shortages.
“Or is it really because the Canadian healthcare system is completely mismanaged, broke and can’t afford to treat patients,” Ireland said.
As for Ireland, last month she warned that the pro-euthanasia lobby is “going after Catholics” by advocating that the province of British Columbia strong-arm their hospitals into offering assisted suicide to patients.”
Under Trudeau’s permissive MAiD laws, deaths have skyrocketed. Last month, LifeSiteNews reported how the Canadian province of Ontario has seen deaths by state-sanctioned euthanasia skyrocket by 25 percent in the first five months of 2023, meaning the province is on track to see a whopping 5,000 die via the grim procedure this year alone.
According to up-to-date information posted online by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), 13,500 Canadians died by MAiD in 2022, with Québec (4,810 deaths) having the highest number of deaths not just in Canada but in the world.
British Columbia has seen a 24 percent increase in MAiD, with some 2,515 deaths in 2022 alone.