The Horrific Assisted Suicide Boom in Canada

When one thinks about the major causes of death for industrialized countries, a familiar number of ailments come to mind — cancer and heart disease, for instance. In the past few years, COVID has also ranked high in some countries’ mortality tables. But Canada has a new leading cause of death that is both shocking and surprising: death by doctor.

That’s one of the major conclusions from a recent study that examined our neighbor to the north’s medical aid in dying laws and their grisly consequences. According to the study, assisted suicide now ranks alongside cardiovascular disease as Canada’s fifth leading cause of death. The number of assisted suicides rose thirteenfold from 2016 to 2022, to over 13,000 — this in a country with a population roughly one-tenth the size of the United States. And because some provinces do not report assisted suicide as the cause of death, the data actually under-estimates the impact of assisted suicide on Canadian mortality. (READ MORE: Assisted Suicide Surges in California)

These results flow from decisions taken by policymakers to promote assisted suicide. Legislative expansions of a “right” first created by courts — i.e., the right to take one’s own life — have allowed for same-day suicide, and made conditions like vision and hearing loss eligible for aid in dying.

The report illustrates how an outcome once alleged to be rare has become shockingly routine. While a 2020 journal article predicted 2,000 assisted suicides that year, the actual outcome exceeded that prediction by nearly threefold, a number that nearly doubled again from 2020 to 2022. Even the head of the commission that monitors assisted suicide in Quebec had to admit that in the province, “we’re now no longer dealing with an exceptional treatment, but a treatment that is very frequent.”

Why Is Assisted Suicide Growing?

Why has Canada’s regime grown at the fastest rate of all the assisted suicide programs in the Western world? Along with the frequent eligibility expansions, one has to point to the country’s single-payer system of socialized medicine. Persistent under-funding means that over 1.2 million Canadians are waiting for various treatments — some for more than a year.

With obtaining appropriate medical treatment difficult due to government rationing, some Canadian patients may lose hope and turn to assisted suicide in the absence of an alternative. In some cases, physicians may try to promote this outcome by persuading patients of the futility of their cause. Talk about a macabre — not to mention immoral — way to lower health care costs.

The way that Canada has devalued life is horrifying and disgusting. The fact that some states like California and Washington state have also gone down the road of assisted suicide makes me fear that our culture does not stand up for the least among us. In promoting assisted suicide, we are sending a very clear message to those with disabilities or in pain that their lives have little meaning and are not “worth it.” (READ MORE: Trans Individuals Seek Euthanasia After ‘Gender-Affirming Care’)

While courts and lawmakers created the assisted suicide regime in Canada, and in some states here, individual citizens must stand up for the rights of individuals to live with dignity, without feeling bullied or influenced into taking one’s own life. Let us work to build a culture that values all human life, from conception to natural death, to promote the inherent worth of all Americans.

Mary Vought is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. You can follow her on X @MaryVought.  

 

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