Letter from a Reader: Assisted Suicide Qualifications Need to be Reduced

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An October 27 National Post article titled “Demand Fuels MAID Provider Shortage” found that the number of assisted suicide deaths increased tenfold between 2016 and 2021. It describes the shortage as an “imminent crisis” given the — 1,000 to 10,000 or more.

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As the criteria for allowing lethal injection continue to expand, there seem to be not enough providers to meet the demand for this service.

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Originally intended for people whose death was reasonably foreseeable, it is now available for people with “serious and irreversible” conditions but for whom death is not reasonably foreseeable.

From March next year, those with only mental illness will also be eligible.

A congressional committee is now considering permitting assisted suicide for mature minors. No wonder some medical professionals are apprehensive about providing assisted suicide for mentally ill and minors.

Which group is next allowed access to this service? Going back to the Hippocratic Oath: “I will not give lethal drugs to anyone unless asked, nor recommend such schemes” rather than giving the option of increasing access to suicide with medical help. would also be desirable.

Perhaps rather than expanding access to kill patients, we should look for better ways to kill pain.

Arthur Bondy, LaSalle

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