Assisted suicide will save the Canadian health care system up to $136.8 million a year, claims a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. SPUC has slammed the suggestion as “heartless utilitarianism” that must be rejected.
A “cost analysis of medical assistance in dying [suicide] in Canada” estimates that the policy could save the Canadian state between $34.7 and $136.8 million every year.
“As death approaches,” the study states, “health care costs increase dramatically in the final months. Patients who choose medical assistance in dying may forgo this resource-intensive period”.
The report was based on projections using data from Belgium and the Netherlands, where assisted suicide has been legal for over two decades. “Medical assistance in dying” (MAID) in Canada was legalised in 2016.
Although the authors of the report claim they “are not suggesting medical assistance in dying as a measure to cut costs,” they “suggest that the savings will almost certainly exceed the costs associated with offering medical assistance in dying to patients across the country and that the inclusion of medical assistance in dying in the services covered by universal health care will… release funds to be reinvested elsewhere”.
The report also claims that assisted suicide will shorten the lives of 60% of patients, mostly suffering from cancer, by one month, and by one week in 40% of cases.
“Heartless utilitarianism”
Daniel Frampton, SPUC Editorial Officer, said: “This sinister new study underlines a heartless utilitarianism at large in the West that views patients as a drain on resources, and thus seeks to ‘reinvest’ that money elsewhere into more worthy, less expensive patients.
“It should come as no surprise, then, when cash-strapped governments turn to assisted suicide as a cost-cutting measure. Either through direct policy or indirectly through denial of funds, patients will suffer as a result and feel pressured to choose death, or simply be given no other alternative.
“As the UK considers legalising assisted suicide, it is vital that politicians and the public heed the warnings coming out of Canada and reject the horrific trend towards death as a solution to the challenges of care.”
Assisted suicide forced on cancer patient stuck in treatment backlog
A Canadian cancer patient was recently granted assisted suicide within two days after waiting weeks in vain for chemotherapy, as reported by SPUC.
His widow later stated: “I think I could still have my Dan if he had gotten treatment sooner. If we had more money, we could have gone to the States. But we’re just regular people.”
The rate of assisted suicide in Canada has surged to unprecedented levels in recent years, causing the noted medical journal The Lancet to comment on the alarming rise, which now accounts for 4% of all Canadian deaths.
In 2022 alone, there were 13,241 state-sanctioned assisted suicides in Canada, while the province of Quebec saw a 54% increase. Following several potentially wrongful suicides, an official memo warned doctors to respect the limits of the current law.
Numerous horror stories have emerged from Canada, such as soldiers suffering from PTSD being offered assisted suicide.