Canada: Suicidal Patient Says Clinician Asked If She Had Considered Euthanasia
by John Hayward
A 37-year-old Vancouver woman named Kathrin Mentler told Canada’s Globe and Mail on Wednesday that when she visited Vancouver General Hospital in June to seek help for chronic depression and suicidal thoughts, a clinician told her to consider euthanasia.
According to Mentler, the clinician told her there were “no beds” and “no availability” because Canada’s socialist health care system is “broken,” and then asked if she had “considered MAID.”
MAID stands for Medical Assistance in Dying, Canada’s preferred euphemism for “assisted suicide,” the killing of suicidal people. Mentler, who had never heard the term before, thought the clinician was advising her to hire a housekeeper.
Mentler said she was shocked that the hospital would suggest a person grappling with thoughts of suicide go ahead and kill themselves with medical assistance.
“I very specifically went there that day because I didn’t want to get into a situation where I would think about taking an overdose of medication,” she said.
Mentler said the encounter left her traumatized and “wanting to scream and cry.” She posted her account of the exchange on social media, which caught the attention of the Globe and Mail.
“The more I think about it, I think it brings up more and more ethical and moral questions around it,” she added.
“It was pretty disheartening and made me feel helpless. I’m coming here because I’m looking for help and you’re telling me there is no help,” Mentler told The Tyee, an independent Canadian news site, on Wednesday.