Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: Four fetuses and three premature babies died at Nasser Medical Complex due to malnutrition
Lebanese Ministry of Health: One person was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in the town of Burj Qalawieh, south Lebanon.
Al Mayadeen correspondent: The first ship of the Maghreb fleet delivering aid to break the siege on Gaza departs from the port of Gammarth in Tunisia.
Channel 12: Airspace closed at Ramon Airport due to fears of drone infiltration
IOF Spokesperson: Sirens sounded over an aircraft infiltration in the Bir Ora area, and details are being examined
Drone infiltration sirens sound north of the Gulf of Aqaba
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: The Israeli occupation carried out five extremely violent raids on the western areas of Gaza City
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: The Israeli occupation carried out major bombings in the Gaza Strip, the most violent since October 7
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree: The missile force carried out a major operation using the Palestine 2 ballistic hypersonic missile, hitting several targets in occupied Yafa.
Sirens sound in large areas of occupied Palestine after a missile launch from Yemen was detected

Canada going as far as possible abuse with MAiD, hitting brakes needed

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Star
  • 25 Nov 2022 22:34
5 Min Read

Reports question why Canada is relying on MAiD and not providing social support for those suffering not only from a terminal illness but also from poverty and despair.

  • x
  • Canada goes far with medical assistance in dying and expands MAiD access.
    The danger of abuse is becoming ever more apparent (Radio-Canada)

Death has been sanitized and institutionalized to a large extent throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries, with the dying assigned to hospitals or nursing homes, out of sight, and the bodies efficiently whisked away by professionals in the business of tidy dispatch.

The debate in Canada over medical aid in dying, or MAiD, brought about tons of issues to consider, including the ways and means of death and the choice one makes regarding how to exit from the mortal stage.

The procedure was legalized in 2016 with the goal of allowing those with terminal illnesses to seek the assistance of doctors in alleviating their suffering as they near inevitable death.

However, MAiD was expanded in 2021 to include people whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable.

In modern times, the Western world has not been at ease discussing or contemplating death.

Canada is literally using MAiD to kill the disabled and or poor. Here is a list of individuals who felt they had NO OTHER CHOICE but to consider or engage in MAiD because the government refused to help them.

(1/?)

— Shelby (@Lefty_Mind) November 23, 2022

What are the qualifications? 

To qualify, individuals must have a serious incurable illness or disability, must be in an advanced state of irreversible decline, and must suffer from intolerable physical or psychological pain.

In very short order, however, Canada has become the world leader in MAiD, and the country seems to have stepped onto a slippery slope.

Alarmingly, appallingly, stories have arisen that MAiD was not limited to terminal cases but has expanded to include people seeking death out of despair.

Medical assistance, or suicide assistance?

Amir Farsoud, of St. Catharines, sought help to end his life about a month ago. He didn't want to die, said the now-55-year-old. But his rooming house was for sale, and he couldn't find affordable housing. Farsoud, who suffers from a debilitating back condition, relied on his meager disability payments and was afraid of becoming homeless. As a result, he sought medical aid in dying or MAiD.

Related News

Canada says it’s ‘evaluating’ its ties with 'Israel' after Doha strike

China slams Australia, Canada over warships in Taiwan Strait

Farsoud's application was approved by one doctor, and he was looking for another when he spoke to CityNews in October.

The doctor tried to talk him out of it, Farsoud said. “But eventually I convinced him … I was going to die, one way or another. It was just a question of, ‘Do I have to take a bus to Toronto and jump in front of the subway, or will you be kind enough to do it?’”

Farsoud isn’t the only person who has sought MAiD because of a lack of proper housing, healthcare support, access to specialists, or abject poverty.

How is MAiD expanding? 

MAiD will be available to people suffering solely from mental illness beginning in March. This is despite the fact that experts disagree on whether a person's mental illness can be accurately diagnosed as "irreversible", that depressed people frequently want to die, and that access to treatment is uneven.

The government’s own expert panel concluded “it is difficult, if not impossible, for clinicians to make accurate predictions about the future for an individual patient.”

Dr. John Maher of Ontario told a joint Senate/House of Commons committee investigating MAiD that some of his patients are now refusing treatment in order to be eligible for MAiD. “Telling my patients that you will make it easier for them to die has enraged me,” he said.

With cases of MAiD expected to rise, it is worth asking whether the state is encouraging people to choose a dignified death by failing to provide them with the means for a dignified life.

A pause is much needed. 

'Assisted suicide'

The whole perspective raises a myriad of questions that cannot be answered decisively. One cannot but think how the unthinkable becomes "normal", if not "inevitable". How does the abnormal become "normal" although in a horrifying way? 

All these questions surface as a major Canadian medical organization is pushing the idea of allowing doctors to do something that’s long been considered unthinkable and abnormal: killing infants who are born with conditions that make survival "impossible".

The Quebec College of Physicians made the case for this before a parliamentary committee studying changes to Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying (MAID), a.k.a. assisted suicide.

Those in favor of "assisted suicide" try to argue that the college’s proposal involves only newborns with severe malformations whose chance for life is “basically nil". It wouldn’t be a license to kill babies, they dare claim.

But this brings forth a moral dilemma that cannot but be taken into consideration. Authorizing doctors to actively apply euthanasia on infants — rather than allowing nature to take its course — does cross a line once thought untouchable.

The college even goes as far as extending MAiD to include "mature minors" or teenagers aged 14 to 17, as well as euthanasia for elderly people who are simply "tired of living."

When the debate is solely about personal "autonomy," or the right to decide what to do with your own life, there should be limits to how far MAiD is authorized, and it is about time for Canada to hit the brakes.

  • Canada
  • MAiD

Most Read

The damaged building in the Katara neighborhood, Doha, Qatar, September 9, 2025 (Social media)

Hamas delegation survives Israeli assassination attempt in Qatar

  • Politics
  • 9 Sep 2025
Pro-"Israel" conservative Charlie Kirk shot during Utah speech

American far-right activist Charlie Kirk shot dead during Utah speech

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza.

Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza

  • Politics
  • 12 Sep 2025
A screengrab from the ad played on Fox News. (X Screengrab)

Fox airs ad warning Trump not to let Netanyahu 'play' him on Gaza

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Australia warned of deadly climate risks in landmark report
Environment

Millions at risk from rising seas, extreme heat in Australia: Report

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un inspects a new weapons factory in undisclosed location, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, August 31, 2025 (AP)
Politics

DPRK defies US, says nuclear state status 'permanently enshrined'

Soldier F faces trial over bloody Sunday killings after 53 years
Miscellaneous

British Soldier F faces trial over Bloody Sunday killings after 53 yrs

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate at the University of Sydney to protest the Israel Hamas war, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 (AP)
Politics

Protest outside ABC decries media silence on Gaza journalist killings

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS