The Commons: Canada Is Killing Itself

"I had two sisters in their mid-90s who availed themselves of Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying program. Both were incapacitated; they had lost their dignity and were facing amputations or prolonged stays in the hospital with no hope of survival. They were subjected to multiple interviews making sure that they were lucid. Both died surrounded by their family and a multitude of friends. We celebrated their courage to leave their horrible situation with grace. Everyone in attendance stated that they hoped they would have the courage to do the same. I found the system to be run with sensitivity and efficiency. Reports about abuses are few and far between. Canada should be proud that people in unbearable pain can decide to die when life is intolerable."

"The phrase I return to from Elaina Plott Calabro's article is just eight words, spoken by the family physician Jonathan Reggler: once you accept that life is not sacred. With those words, Reggler explains better than anyone the horrifying expansion of euthanasia in Canada, my home country. Because regardless of whether you reckon that there is anything divine or even vaguely numinous in this world, sacred remains the best and most morally urgent word that human beings have for talking about life."

"All of us, at some deep level, know that life is sacred. This is why we feel such distress when we hear news of starvation or deaths in war. To deny sacrality and to replace it with a new apex value called autonomy is, inevitably, to turn life into something like a possession that we may discard when it is worn out, when it becomes too expensive, or simply when we are tired of it."

Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying program allowed two sisters in their mid‑90s, incapacitated and facing amputation or prolonged hospitalization, to end their lives surrounded by family. Multiple interviews assessed lucidity and the process was described as sensitive and efficient, with few reported abuses. Attendees celebrated the courage of those who chose death to escape intolerable pain. Other perspectives emphasize that accepting euthanasia risks treating life as a discardable possession and elevating autonomy over sacrality, warning of a horrifying expansion of euthanasia. Personal testimony also notes that final years can remain meaningful despite physical or cognitive decline.

Read at The Atlantic