MEGHAN MCCAIN: A deeply unhappy anorexic woman aged 47 can now be euthanized out of her misery – all paid for and approved by the state. This isn’t compassion. It’s proof the West has lost its collective mind

America’s friendly neighbor to the north is pioneering new ways to ease the suffering of its citizens – by helping them die.

That sentence is shocking to write. It must be terrifying to read it.

Canada has long been a world leader in the practice of euthanasia, also known as assisted dying.

The MAiD program, or “medical assistance in dying,” was first legalized for people with a terminal illness in 2016 and was responsible for 3.3 percent of all Canadian deaths by 2021.

That year, Canada recorded 10,029 euthanasia deaths. The number is estimated to reach 13,500 by 2022. The official count has not yet been released.

But now the MAiD program will grow again. In March 2024, the right to die will be extended to people suffering from ‘mental health problems’.

Clearly, the debate over the morality of assisted dying is an incredibly sensitive one. I do not wade into this subject without fear.

My father died of a terminal brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme stage 5, which is considered one of the most deadly diseases in existence.

The average survival time is 12-18 months and only 25 percent of patients live longer than a year. But never did he or my family consider euthanasia.

Father survived 14 months from the date of his diagnosis. And I can tell you that the experience of watching someone you love die of a malignant cancer is a specific kind of hell.

Those months were the most painful of my life.

They were also among the most important.

I, along with my siblings and mother, had the privilege of being my father’s caretaker. We have taken care of him physically, emotionally and spiritually to the best of our ability.

I wouldn’t give back a single second.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have sympathy and understanding for those who make a different decision.

I remember the life of Brittany Maynard, who was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma in 2014.

She chose to end her life through assisted suicide and even advocated for its wider legalization in the United States.

“My glioblastoma is going to kill me and I have no control over it,” she told PEOPLE Magazine in 2017.

“I’ve discussed with many experts how I would die from it and it’s a horrible, horrible way to die. So it’s less terrifying to choose to go with dignity,” she said.

I’m not questioning her decision. But as Canada expands the practice of state-sponsored assisted dying to those not facing a terminal illness, I have to ask: Is this the path the Western world wants to take?

Lisa Pauli, a 47-year-old Canadian woman who suffers from anorexia, has now received international attention for stating that she will choose medical assisted suicide when it is made available to her.

“Every day is hell,” Pauli told Reuters this week. ‘I’m so tired. I’m ready. I have tried everything. I feel like I’ve lived my life.’

At 92 pounds, she looks unimaginably thin. She can clearly articulate her motives for wanting to die, but it’s very disturbing nonetheless.

“Other people might think, ‘My God, you’re 47. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.’ You can change,’ she said. ‘I personally am too tired. I’m not going to change. I don’t want to recover, which means I don’t want to gain weight. Because recovering is arriving – and I don’t want that.’

I can’t imagine the suffering Pauli has to go through. And this column is by no means a condemnation of her.

However, I am deeply disturbed by the policy of granting this power to individuals who are – by definition – mentally ill.

Certainly, America tends towards a more permissive attitude when it comes to euthanasia.

In the past five years, the number of US states that allow the terminally ill to end their lives has more than tripled.

Ten states and the District of Columbia have chosen to allow physician-assisted suicide. In Oregon and Vermont, patients no longer have to be state residents.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation removing requirements for patients to sign a final statement declaring their wish to die after activists complained that some could lose the ability to give consent.

But as the mental health crisis erupts, is the West really making it easier for struggling people to die?

By 2021, more than one in five American adults will be living with a mental illness, according to the National Institutes of Health.

That’s almost 58 million people.

A new large-scale study from the UK involving more than 63,000 participants in 16 different countries found that three in ten girls under the age of 18 suffer from an eating disorder.

What message is being sent to them? That there is a valid, state-approved way to end their suffering? That they no longer have to fight?

How will this law affect government and medical institutions? Does it send them the signal that if it is too difficult to treat their citizens, they can choose an alternative?

Shockingly, that may already be happening in Canada.

In 2022, Christine Gauthier, a disabled Army veteran, testified before the Canadian Parliament that the Department of Veterans Affairs offered her medically assisted suicide instead of a wheelchair ramp at home that she had been looking for for five years.

Gauthier served her country and competed under her flag in the 2016 Paralympic Games and the Invictus Games.

To suggest that she contemplates death is nothing short of a terrible insult.

Finally, does not the inclusion of the mentally ill among those eligible for assisted suicide raise the prospect that fatal mistakes can be made?

Again, there is evidence that it happens.

In 2019, a 61-year-old Canadian man named Alan Nichols, despite his family’s objections, took his own life through assisted suicide.

Nichols reportedly had a history of depression and was hospitalized due to concerns that he was suicidal.

Less than a month after being placed in the care of medical personnel, he requested euthanasia. And it was granted.

The only health condition listed on his application was hearing loss.

“Alan was basically put to death,” his brother told the Associated Press in 2022.

In the name of compassion we have gone mad.

Human life is precious and the decision to end it should never be taken lightly.

I can only hope that my compatriots look to Canada and see a system that has gone wildly out of control.

For their sake, and for the sake of all of us, I pray they reconsider.