(Picture: L-R: Mike Schouten, his late son Marcus, and his wife Jennifer just after Marcus’ high school graduation in 2021. Mike Schouten donned his late son’s jacket when he urged the AMAD committee to protect minors from assisted suicide. The final presentation to the special joint parliamentary/ senate committee on medical assistance in dying (AMAD) (Nov 2022) – made by … [Read more...] about Offer better palliative care, not death, urge grieving parents
MAiD
Stop the carnage of MAiD
“MAiD is not end-of-life care. It is not an expression of equality; it is an exemption to equality.” “You hear your legislators discuss whether it would be better to be dead than to be like you. “Disabled people are dying en masse in institutions.” When three disability rights advocates addressed the special joint parliamentary/senate committee on medical … [Read more...] about Stop the carnage of MAiD
The Protection of Freedom of Conscience Act
In the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth II, in the First Session of the Forty-fourth parliament, on February 4, 2022, the first reading of Bill C-230 occurred in Ottawa. Few of us who honour our medical professionals took time away from the news headlines to realize the significance of Kelly Block’s private member’s bill. The design was to amend the Criminal Code to “make it an … [Read more...] about The Protection of Freedom of Conscience Act
Mental illness and disability enough to choose MAiD
John Diefenbaker has been quoted as saying that “Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.” Unelected senators and unelected judges have combined to force elected officials to pry open the legislation on euthanasia for yet another group of Canadians. While the Conservative threat to debate the newly proposed amendments allowed the Prime Minister to request … [Read more...] about Mental illness and disability enough to choose MAiD
The push to merge palliative care with MAiD
Two hours after I left the hospice, my friend was dead. We had talked about fears, read Psalm 23, and sang 10,000 Reasons. The hovering nurses smiled as I left. It seemed so peaceful. And sudden. At times I wondered if this hospice had fallen prey to the push to merge palliative care with MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying). A July 2019 article from the Association for … [Read more...] about The push to merge palliative care with MAiD