“In Canada, which has a smaller population than California, physicians or nurse practitioners directly ended the lives of 31,664 people between 2016 and 2021. That compares to just 3,344 in California.”
This is an opinion piece article and I’m not sure where they’re pulling numbers (I only had time to skim through it)
But if true, let’s add a loose and relatively subjective term like “addiction” to the legislation and these numbers will go up.
Maybe this is how the government was planning to tackle the housing problem lol
So OP’s statement that it was 20x California’s is still inaccurate. Either way all this really indicates is ease of access in Canada. The idea that people are being forced into it is ludicrous conspiratorial thinking with absolutely no basis in fact.
OP said “last year” - the Canadian stats I could find were from 2016-2021, which was still 10x the amount of the alleged California stats over a longer duration.
Don’t throw caution to the wind just because some people are throwing in conspiracy theories. This kind of thing absolutely needs public scrutiny and to be watched very carefully.
It’s one of those “out there” types of opinions for sure, but I can see where their sentiment is coming from.
Addiction is just such a broad sweeping term, and most often quite subjective. As well as the frame of mind that an addicted or depressed person would be in, makes it difficult to take what the patient wants at face value and to just go with it.
People are fallible, including our doctors, so we need to ensure the system is set up appropriately, with little to no room for varying interpretations.
If there’s anything massive corporations have taught me, it’s that vague or poorly written laws and regulatory bodies will be exploited if they can be.
I should also point out that the law doesn’t specify addictions. It’s about mental health conditions which just happens to include addiction. No provincial regulatory body has stated that they intend to allow addicts to recieve MAID.
Keep in mind that this is a Vice article. They are not really a reputable news source, they are sensationalist at best.
I appreciate your awareness of the bias in media groups - sincerely.
I’ll have to give the new legislation a read to see how loose it is before forming hard opinions on it, but I just wanted to highlight where a large cause for concern should be for topics like this.
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-canadians-adopting-assisted-death-22-times-more-than-americans
“In Canada, which has a smaller population than California, physicians or nurse practitioners directly ended the lives of 31,664 people between 2016 and 2021. That compares to just 3,344 in California.”
This is an opinion piece article and I’m not sure where they’re pulling numbers (I only had time to skim through it)
But if true, let’s add a loose and relatively subjective term like “addiction” to the legislation and these numbers will go up.
Maybe this is how the government was planning to tackle the housing problem lol
That’s a Postmedia Network owned paper. They’ve got a conservative bias, best known for that Tory rag the National Post.
I don’t think I’d trust unsourced statistics from an opinion piece in a Postmedia Network paper myself.
Here it is from the Gov of Canada. The Canadian side of the stats in that article are correct.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/health-system-services/annual-report-medical-assistance-dying-2021.html#table_3.1
So OP’s statement that it was 20x California’s is still inaccurate. Either way all this really indicates is ease of access in Canada. The idea that people are being forced into it is ludicrous conspiratorial thinking with absolutely no basis in fact.
OP said “last year” - the Canadian stats I could find were from 2016-2021, which was still 10x the amount of the alleged California stats over a longer duration.
Don’t throw caution to the wind just because some people are throwing in conspiracy theories. This kind of thing absolutely needs public scrutiny and to be watched very carefully.
MAID is already under heavy scrutiny. MAID assessors and providers are heavily regulated by independent bodies in each province/territory.
Its up to patients to decide whether they want MAID, and there are strict safeguards in place.
This particular comment chain stems from a dude claiming that MAID is just eugenics. Doesn’t that seem a little ridiculous to you?
It’s one of those “out there” types of opinions for sure, but I can see where their sentiment is coming from.
Addiction is just such a broad sweeping term, and most often quite subjective. As well as the frame of mind that an addicted or depressed person would be in, makes it difficult to take what the patient wants at face value and to just go with it.
People are fallible, including our doctors, so we need to ensure the system is set up appropriately, with little to no room for varying interpretations.
If there’s anything massive corporations have taught me, it’s that vague or poorly written laws and regulatory bodies will be exploited if they can be.
I should also point out that the law doesn’t specify addictions. It’s about mental health conditions which just happens to include addiction. No provincial regulatory body has stated that they intend to allow addicts to recieve MAID.
Keep in mind that this is a Vice article. They are not really a reputable news source, they are sensationalist at best.
I appreciate your awareness of the bias in media groups - sincerely.
I’ll have to give the new legislation a read to see how loose it is before forming hard opinions on it, but I just wanted to highlight where a large cause for concern should be for topics like this.