MAiD and marginalized people: Coroner’s reports shed light on assisted death in Ontario

MAiD and Marginalized People: Coroner’s Reports Shed Light on Assisted Death in Ontario

Marginalization and MAiD

The Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario has released new reports highlighting the reasons some Canadians have chosen medical assistance in dying (MAiD), which involves euthanasia – meaning medically-administered injection rather than self-administered – over 99.9% of the time. The reports have received international attention for what they reveal, including patients being euthanized despite untreated mental illness and addictions, unclear medical diagnoses, and suffering fueled by housing insecurity, poverty, and social marginalization.

- Advertisement -

Denialism

Policy mistakes can occur, but these marginalized deaths result from wilful avoidance and denial of evidence-based cautions. I have previously written about the lack of safeguards and absence of evidence informing MAiD expansion. Beyond the evidence in the coroner’s report, there are clear signs of this denial.

These repeated refusals to have our MAiD expansion be informed by evidence have led to a MAiD house of cards wilfully blind to suicide risks.

Social Murder

Some expansion advocates have already creatively dismissed concerns about the coroner reports. The head-scratching argument is that since marginalization leads to higher death rates of the marginalized anyway, the fact that Track 2 MAiD is provided to marginalized people at the same or slightly lower rates than their usual high "decedent" rates means MAiD is not a risk to the marginalized. There is even the bold suggestion that "MAiD narrows the gap between privileged and deprived."

The remarkable blind spot of this privileged perspective is obvious: none of the marginalized receiving Track 2 MAiD would have died if they had not gotten MAiD; even their own MAiD assessors predicted they would have over another decade of life to live (otherwise they would have been Track 1).

Conclusion

MAiD expansionists and policy makers must acknowledge the suffering for which some marginalized Canadians are receiving state-sponsored MAiD, rather than taking refuge behind "small numbers" justifications and suicide denial. State-facilitated death fueled by social deprivation is not a solution; it is a perpetuation of social murder.

FAQs

• What is MAiD?
  Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is a medical procedure that is legally available to eligible individuals in Canada who are experiencing intolerable suffering and have made a voluntary and informed decision to end their life.
• What is Track 2 MAiD?
  Track 2 MAiD is a category of medical assistance in dying that is available to individuals who are not facing a terminal illness but are experiencing intolerable suffering and have made a voluntary and informed decision to end their life.
• What are some concerns about MAiD?
  Some concerns about MAiD include the lack of safeguards, the absence of evidence informing MAiD expansion, and the risk of suicide and harm to vulnerable individuals.
• What is social murder?
  Social murder is a term used to describe the premature death of individuals, such as those from marginalized communities, who are at a higher risk of death due to societal factors, such as poverty and lack of access to health care.