By Rick Moran
When Canada legalized euthanasia in 2016, a patient had to be terminally ill to access the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. But next year, the state plans to extend MAID to those suffering from mental illness — including those afflicted with PTSD.
Exactly what those who predicted a slippery slope to an ethical breakdown warned us about has now come to pass. Euthanasia proponents scoffed at the idea that the mentally ill would be given the opportunity to end their lives, but it’s come about much faster than anyone would have predicted.
Canadian military veteran Kelsi Sheren developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the Afghanistan war and now campaigns against the expansion of euthanasia.
“When you take people who were willing to put their lives on the line for you, for your safety, then you have the audacity to tell them it’s better if you just die … it is one of the most disgusting things,” says Sheren. “It’s unacceptable, and it is one of the most infuriating things to come down from the Canadian administration in the last decade.”
Sheren says that beating PTSD is hard but accessing the medical services to help in the process is even harder.
It’s one thing to be suffering from a terminal illness that puts the patient in constant pain and discomfort. But what about the case of Lisa Pauli, a 47-year-old woman suffering from the eating disorder anorexia? In 2024, she will be able to access state-assisted suicide despite the fact that there are treatments that could help her deal with her condition.