An official memo has been passed on to doctors in the Canadian province of Quebec requesting they respect the limits of the law regarding assisted suicide. The warning follows a massive 54% rise in assisted suicides in Quebec between 2021 and 2022, and potentially 15 wrongful deaths.

The memo, sent by Quebec’s Commission on end-of-life care, reminded doctors that assisted suicide applicants should be given time to reconsider their decision and that cases should be approved by two truly independent physicians.

The same memo further stated that “shopping around for a favourable second opinion is not an acceptable practice”.

Too many cases, the memo also said, are being approved due to confusion about what Canada’s law allows.

Dr Michel Bureau, the president of Quebec’s Commission on end-of-life care, said: “We see, more and more, that the cases receiving medical aid in dying are approaching the limits of the law.”

The Commission has also reported that, out of 3,663 assisted suicides in Quebec between 2021 and 2022, at least 15 appear to have violated the current law.

But Alex Schadenberg, the director of the Canadian Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has warned that official data and reports might be undercounting violations.

“It is clear that none of these euthanasia deaths have resulted in any disciplinary action, and yet the patient is dead”, he said.

As of December 2022, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) has killed well over 40,000 Canadians since it was legalised in 2016.

Assisted suicide in Canada is a disaster

SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “The willingness of doctors to usher patients into early graves is disturbing, and now a Quebec commission has been forced to call out its own physicians for potential malpractice. In some quarters, doctors even boast with pride about the hundreds of people they’ve helped kill.

“We are seeing before our very eyes the transformation of medicine from the principles of care and doing no harm to the ethic of killing when deemed suitable. This is not only tragic – it is a frightening vision for the UK should similar legislation be introduced here.

“Wherever assisted suicide is introduced, the rate inexorably climbs year on year, just as eligibility becomes ever more expansive, including disability, mental health issues and even poverty. In some nations, even children have been targeted for euthanasia. As we can see now, medical authorities are scrambling to hold back their doctors from killing more and more of their own patients. 

“In Canada, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold back the wave of death breaking over society’s most vulnerable people. Assisted suicide is an inherently dangerous and irresponsible response to the challenge of care. We must take action now to prevent that same disaster being inflicted on the UK.

“As the sanctity of human life is degraded around the world, we are seeing a particularly horrifying phenomenon – the euthanasia of children, first legalised in Belgium in 2014.

“To find out more about this horrific practice, click here, where you also sign our petition to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, calling on them to take action against states that permit child euthanasia.”

A Canadian horror story

The medical journal The Lancet recently noted with concern the “worryingly high number” of assisted suicides in Canada. High-profile commentators, including Jordan Peterson, the world-famous psychologist, have also spoken out against MAiD. 

In one case, a Canadian ex-soldier suffering from PTSD was offered assisted suicide through a veteran hotline, which left him feeling “betrayed”. Another disgusted veteran recently revealed that she knew a dozen veterans who had been given similar offers.

Meanwhile, a doctor in Canada bragged that she had helped kill 400 people through assisted suicide, and that she saw “loneliness and poverty” as good enough reasons to justify her actions.

Despite such cases causing widespread alarm throughout Canada, politicians are still seeking to extend assisted suicide to the mentally ill.