In Canada, 3 out of 10 favor allowing “euthanasia” for reasons of poverty

As the great Pambelé said with a touch of irony: it is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick. Generally speaking, nobody wants to be poor. Poverty and lack of access to basic services such as health and housing are linked to greater personal and family dissatisfaction, and even to problems of depression. But what Research Co. found in a survey on euthanasia in Canada surprised many.

A survey on the legal right to euthanasia found that a significant proportion of Canadians think this right should cover people living in poverty or homelessness, regardless of whether they are terminally ill or otherwise.

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The right to euthanasia is in place since 2016 in Canada

A considerable proportion of the Canadian population agrees with extending the right to euthanasia to those who wish to die with medical assistance.

In 2016, Canada approved the legality of euthanasia, whereby a medically assisted dying process is given after the person submits their request and it is approved. That year, the MAiD (medical assistance in dying) program was approved for terminally ill patients.

Five years later, the program was modified to include people with serious and chronic physical conditions, who can request assistance for their death, even when this condition does not represent a threat to life.

Well, since euthanasia was approved, Research Co. has been conducting an opinion survey to find out what the population’s posture is regarding this program in different scenarios.

Through the survey, which has a nationally representative sample and is conducted online, the firm was able to observe that 73% of the Canadian population supports assisted dying under current conditions, compared to 16% who are against it and 11% who remain indecisive.

The support of nearly three-quarters of the population for the euthanasia program is not surprising, considering that Canada has been a traditionally liberal country. What is striking is that a significant proportion of respondents expressed support for extending the MAiD guidelines to the most economically vulnerable population: people living in poverty and the homeless.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents are in favor of making the assisted dying program available to people living in poverty, and 28% agree with including homeless people, reasons they consider sufficient to request medical assistance in dying.

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Controversy

Gradually, a debate has been taking place as to whether death should or can be one of the solutions to certain problems of humanity.

For some, the fact that there are still people living in hardship is reason enough to consider the right to a dignified death, as nearly a quarter of the surveyed population responded.

For others, on the other hand, the world’s governments have the decision to adopt measures to remedy the serious socio-economic situations in which many of their citizens live, unlike what happens with diseases for which no cure has yet been found.

Thus, assisted death for reasons of poverty or lack of access to rights can be seen as a failure of governance and the role of the state.

The chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Marie-Claud Landry, said in a statement that allowing people to choose to die because the state fails to fulfill fundamental human rights is unacceptable.

Medical assistance for dying

Since its approval, in 2016, the Medical Assistance in Dying program has been expanding the reasons for which the Canadian population can exercise the right to euthanasia.

Among the current conditions for a person in Canada to apply for MAiD is, first of all, to meet the requirements to receive Health services funded by the federal or a territory’s government.

Second, the person must be at least 18 years of age and of sound mind. Third, the person must suffer from a serious or incurable illness.

If the person has these conditions and wishes to die, he/she must make a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying, without being influenced or pressured.

Finally, among the current requirements, the Canadian program requires the individual to give informed consent to receive assistance.

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