CCBI News – Eldercare, Accompaniment, Aging Well; Ecology—Health; Housing—Health Nunavut
April 1, 2022 Dear Friends of CCBI, Eldercare Pope Francis continues his catechesis on the…
CCBI News – Euthanasia for Mental Illness: The Law in Canada; BC Cancer Care; Hopeful News; Oscar the Cat
November 18, 2022
Dear Friends of CCBI,
Euthanasia for Mental Illness: The Law in Canada
Many people are expressing bewilderment over the changes to Canada’s MAiD law, astonished at the prospect of people with mental illnesses even being allowed to request the procedure. Parliament passed amended legislation in March 2021, with a delay in implementing the part dealing with mental illness until March 2023, to allow time to arrange the terms and conditions of the procedure through committee work. Sadly, the law itself is in place already, and the work being done on many fronts may not be influential in having the legislation reversed, although hope springs eternal! Our Catholic population needs to remember that calls to action should be intensified at the time of foundational legislation, since once a law is in place it’s clearly much harder to revoke it or contain it. Given the mood of the general population, ‘MAiD in Canada’ does not seem to provoke much resistance, even among Catholics. It’s not the first time I’ve been asked if MAiD is the same as euthanasia. The spin doctors have done their work well. Some people think MAiD is morally acceptable, while euthanasia is not. Go, as they say, figure!
This particular piece of legislation, however, has incurred reaction from many health care and other professionals. For example, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), which is the largest psychiatric teaching hospital in Canada, has said that assisted dying for those with mental illnesses needs much more study. It’s important to realize that, while not against euthanasia in principle, CAMH considers this part of the legislation faulty and rushed. According to The Globe and Mail, which has been outspokenly critical, “…the Canadian Mental Health Association has raised serious concerns about expanding MAID without first increasing mental health care funding.” In fact, Quebec’s legislative committee recommended that MAiD should not be used for mental illnesses, even although it was a pioneer in promoting euthanasia in the first place. The expert committee that reported to Parliament noted that it is not always possible to say with certainty that the future of people with mental illness is hopeless or that their illness is untreatable. Why, then, allow them to be euthanized?? This is wrong.
Some major problems confronting those with mental illnesses include the fact that possible treatments and care for those with mental illnesses are being delayed, as are appointments with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. The cost of psychotherapy is too high for many and, in Ontario alone, approximately 16,000 people are on a waiting list for housing while experiencing mental health issues while, according to the same article, “…nearly 6,000 patients with the most severe mental disorders are on a years-long list for specialist community-based care.” These situations reveal yet again how socio-economic circumstances adversely affect many in our supposedly ‘universal’ approach to health care in Canada. This is an ethical issue of the first order, clearly involving social justice issues and a response from our communities and governments.
Report from BC Cancer Care
BC Cancer Care recently reported that, “Many patients are choosing MAID because of both their physical suffering with their disease and the mental suffering of not knowing when they’ll hear their options, and whether they’ll be able to take up those options when they’re offered to them.” As the author states, “It should not be that way.” Agreed. Wonderful strides have been made in cancer care, but this is not about treatments: it’s about availability, therefore financing and budgets. It’s also about lack of health care professionals and an influx of patients suffering from the social and mental ravages of COVID-19, etc. Yet the pandemic has been underway for nearly three years! Where is the planning? Who are the professionals responsible for predicting and dealing with these situations? Does everything fall on Public Health agencies? Are they as uncommunicative among themselves as the provinces appear to be? (See last week’s comments). I’m not an investigative journalist, but it is clear that either these questions have not been addressed or that the buck simply continues to be passed. The whole system is unwieldy and resistant to change, and Parliament must respond.
Too many souls are suffering, confirmed by palliative care physician Dr Amy Tan who relates that “…in Victoria, months-long wait times mean patients are being left both in limbo and in pain when treatments could help them. For example, palliative chemotherapy or a clinical trial could improve quality of life for a patient with an incurable cancer or extend their life.” Dr Tan has seen patients as young as 40 die before their first consultations. Aged 40. This is sad, unnecessary and wrong.
Some Hopeful News
Kudos to Cardinal Collins at the recent Cardinal’s Dinner, where the audience included Premier Ford and a representative of the Federal Government, for speaking out forcefully and clearly yet again about the sad state of society today, the need for a more humane society and the need to respect life at all stages. We hope his voice resounds in political and legislative circles, where it is badly needed!
In another ‘take’ on a more humane society, Bambi sends an article on ‘Oscar the Cat’ as a reminder that there are many ways of ‘accompanying’ the dying.
Oscar the cat keeps coming back to comfort patients at a Halifax hospice | CBC News
Pope Francis’ Intention for November
Children Who Suffer
We pray for children who are suffering, especially those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of war; may they be guaranteed access to education and the opportunity to experience family affection.
Moira and Bambi