Sean Tagert died on August 6

Canadian, Sean Tagert, aged 41, was killed by assisted suicide after health officials decided to cut the funding for his in-home care hours.

Mr Tagert suffered from Motor Neurone Disease (MND) which is known in Canada as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). His illness reduced his ability to move his body, eat or speak, however his mental awareness remained unaffected. Doctors recommended 24-hour in-home care to support Mr Tagert.

However, Vancouver Coastal Health, initially only offered Mr Tagert 15.5 hours of care a day, which was then raised to 20 hours a day, meaning that Mr Tagert was forced to pay $263.50 a day for the remaining care that he needed to survive.

 Welcome to the great Canadian healthcare system

According to Grandin Media, on social media, Mr Tagert wrote a status which explained that two Vancouver Coastal Health officials visited his home and confirmed that they were cutting funding for his already inadequate care hours.

After receiving this news Mr Tagert wrote a number of devastating social media status’s which read: "So last Friday I officially submitted my medically assisted death paperwork, with lawyers and doctors, everything is in proper order. It’s been a month since I submitted my appeal to the Vancouver Coastal Health patient care quality department. They didn’t even respond….Welcome to the great Canadian healthcare system."

Mr Tagert was killed by assisted suicide on August 6th.

Canada is home to some of the world’s most sinister euthanasia and assisted suicide laws, as even those without a terminal illness or those suffering from a mental illness are eligible to be killed by a medically assisted death.

Since Canada legalised euthanasia in 2016, there have been at least 6,749 cases of medically assisted deaths, with over 803 dead in the first 6 months of legalisation. 2018 saw Canada’s euthanasia figures soar with over 3000 Canadians killed by their doctor. 

When the right to die becomes the duty to die

A ComRes poll found that nearly half of the British population is concerned that if the option of ending one’s life was made legal, some people would feel pressurised into killing themselves.

It is becoming increasingly evident that suicide laws could lead to vulnerable people seeing suicide as a treatment option, so as not to be a burden to others. 

In a recent debate in the House Commons, MP Lynn McInnes expressed her concern at the very realistic possibility of the vulnerable being pressurised to die. Ms McInnes said: "My concern is that in the current climate, at a time of over-stretched NHS budgets and massively under-funded social care, if assisted dying was legalised, it would begin to be seen as an alternative to treatment and to care. There is a very real risk of a subtle yet dangerous culture change, in which vulnerable, terminally ill patients, come to see assisted dying as a treatment option, and indeed the best way to stop themselves becoming a burden to their families, to the NHS and to wider society."

MP Jim Shannon also stated during the debate, that "the ‘right to die’ for the eloquent and well off would become a duty to die for the poor and vulnerable."

We have a duty to protect the vulnerable