Canadian funeral homes are now offering assisted suicide rooms for individuals to die in, expediting the process from lethal dose to coffin, with both now being offered under the same roof.
Paul Needham has set up a suicide room in his funeral home, accommodating those who do not wish to die at home or in hospital – as well as for families who do not wish to associate their living spaces with death.
“Sometimes they’d say things like ‘Every time I look at that bed or every time I walk into that room I would be re-living it’”, explained Needham.
So far, Needham’s funeral home has facilitated 23 suicides.
Needham added: “Family members can be right there with their loved ones. I suggest they can make it how they want it, bring some of your favourite music, bring flowers… bring a bottle of wine. This is this person’s last day on Earth. You want to take everything into account.”
Other funeral homes have set up similar initiatives, answering increasing demand for families “in a bind”, according to Needham.
Since the passing of Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying law, known as MAiD, in 2016, deaths from assisted death have increased dramatically. In 2019, such deaths increased by 26%, while MAiD deaths rose by a third in Ontario to 2,378 in 2020, as reported by SPUC.
Canada is currently considering an extension of MAiD to persons with mental illness.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “It may be inevitable that these dystopian suicide rooms will emerge where assisted suicide is legal, in part a result of a dangerous and shocking complacency that abounds in Canada and elsewhere.
“Such industrial methods of human disposal are gradually being normalised – to the extent that suicides are now assisted into the coffin or the oven almost without remorse or question.
“Is this what we want here in the UK as well?”
Similar stories
Assisted deaths in Ontario, Canada jumps by a third in 2020
Euthanasia deaths in Canada surged in 2020
“Complacent” Lords allow dangerous assisted suicide bill to move forward unopposed