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Activists have criticized as “reckless” and “horrible” a plan by a Canadian parliamentary committee to expand the country’s assisted suicide program to terminally ill children.
They told DailyMail.com that sick and disabled children could soon join the estimated 10,000 adults who end their lives each year through state-sanctioned euthanasia in the world’s most permissive program of its kind.
In its long awaited reportthe Joint Special Committee on Medical Assisted Dying (MAiD) recommended that ‘mature minors’ whose deaths were ‘reasonably foreseeable’ be able to access assisted suicide, even without parental consent.
The report and its 23 recommendations will be discussed in the House of Commons in the coming months and could prompt revisions to Canada’s assisted dying laws as early as this year.
“I think it’s horrible,” said Amy Hasbrouck, who campaigns against MAiD for the group Not Dead Yet.
“Adolescents are not in a good position to judge whether or not to commit suicide. Any adolescent with a disability, who is constantly told that her life is useless and pitiful, will become depressed and, of course, want to die.’
Mike Schouten, whose son, Markus, died of cancer last year aged 18, said letting young people end their lives with medication prescribed by a doctor was “reckless”.
There were more than 10,000 euthanasia deaths in 2021, an increase of around a third over the previous year.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, another campaign team, said Canada has been on a dangerous “slippery slope” toward widespread assisted suicide since the law was introduced in 2016.
“We said we were going to have safeguards and guardrails, but the next government can just open it up more by making a decision, and that’s exactly what’s happening,” Schadenberg said.
After hearing from some 150 witnesses and reviewing hundreds of reports, the joint committee of Canadian politicians earlier this month concluded that children who can competently make decisions should have access to MAiD.
Witnesses had told members that children were ill-equipped to handle such an important decision, that they were more vulnerable to outside pressure than adults, and that there was no going back on an irreversible decision.
Still, others pointed out that poor Canadian children may already decide to stop receiving life-saving treatment for their condition, even when doing so will hasten their death.
Ultimately, members agreed that terminally ill children, most likely between the ages of 14 and 17, could be influenced by many factors and that “eligibility for MAiD should not be denied based solely on age.”
In their 138-page report, the members said the procedure, usually a lethal injection administered by a doctor, should be made available to “mature minors… whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.”
They also called for more research into children’s experiences of assisted suicide and for a panel of independent experts to investigate criminal issues related to children’s access to MAiD.
It is unclear whether the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would immediately push to expand access to children. Ministers earlier this month postponed plans to extend MAiD to the mentally ill for a year.
Mike Schouten, director of advocacy for the Association for Reform Political Action (ARPA), called the committee “reckless” and urged members of parliament to ensure that “the committee’s recommendations do not become law.”
Mike Schouten, director of advocacy for the Association for Reform Political Action (ARPA), urged members of parliament to ensure that “the committee’s recommendation does not become law.”
Alex Schadenberg (left), executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and Amy Hasbrouck of the group Not Dead Yet, say politicians should not expand access to MAiD
“There would be a vigorous debate and hopefully people would make the right decisions, although at this point we don’t have a lot of faith in some of those institutions, considering our current government,” Schouten said.
Schouten’s son, Markus, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in February 2021 and died just 15 months later, on May 29, 2022, at age 18, after multiple operations, chemotherapy, and 25 rounds of radiation therapy.
His father said a child assisted suicide law would have told his son that caregivers had “given up” on him.
Appearing with his wife, Jennifer, Mr Schouten told the Canadian parliamentary committee: “By giving some minors the right to apply, you put all minors and their families in a position where they are compelled to consider.”
Activists often highlight the case of Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer who was convicted of killing his 12-year-old daughter, Tracy, in 1993. He said it was a mercy killing because of chronic pain related to his severe cerebral palsy.
Many Canadians support euthanasia, and campaign group Dying With Dignity says the procedure is “driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and a desire for personal autonomy.”
But human rights advocates say the country’s regulations lack necessary safeguards, devalue the lives of disabled people and are prompting doctors and health workers to suggest the procedure to those who might not otherwise consider it.
The Joint Special Committee on Medical Assisted Dying (MAiD) recommended that ‘mature minors’ whose deaths were ‘reasonably foreseeable’ be able to access assisted suicide, even without parental consent.
Markus Schouten was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in February 2021 and died just 15 months later, on May 29, 2022, at age 18, after multiple operations, chemotherapy, and 25 rounds of radiation therapy.
It is not yet clear whether the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (centre) would immediately push to expand access to assisted suicide for children.
Euthanasia, where doctors use drugs to kill patients, is legal in seven countries: Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain, as well as several Australian states.
Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of US states, allow physician-assisted suicide, in which patients take the deadly drug themselves, usually by crushing and drinking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a doctor.
In Canada, the two options are known as MAiD, although more than 99.9 percent of those deaths are euthanasia. There were more than 10,000 euthanasia deaths in 2021, an increase of around a third over the previous year.
Canada’s path to allow euthanasia began in 2015, when its highest court declared that banning assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. He gave national leaders a year to draft the legislation.
The resulting 2016 law made both euthanasia and assisted suicide legal for people over the age of 18 as long as they met certain conditions: They had to have a severe and advanced condition, illness or disability that was causing them suffering and their death was near.
The law was later changed to allow people who were not terminally ill to choose death, significantly expanding the number of eligible people. Critics say the change removed a key safeguard meant to protect people with potentially years or decades to live.
Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease, or disability can seek help in dying.
Wires contributed to this report.