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0 pointsVancouverMan3y ago0 comments

There's a significant cultural aspect we need to consider, too.

Many Canadians, especially older ones who grew up when Canada was still a very high-trust society, have what could be described as a reverence for authority figures. This involves a significant degree of obedience, bordering on subservience.

Medical professionals are often among the most revered authority figures to these Canadians, even to the point of being seen as infallible. There are Canadians who won't question any advice made, nor any suggestions given, by these medical professionals.

If a medical professional were to recommend euthanasia to these kind of Canadians, even if it wasn't something that they really wanted to do, I think a significant proportion would feel obliged to go along with it, as irrational as this may seem.

This attitude became quite apparent over the last three years, when many Canadians completely bought into the many obviously nonsensical, and sometimes even outright harmful, policies being pushed by medical professionals and public health officials.

At the same time, however, those three years have been a significant eye-opener for some Canadians, too. For these people, the trust they once had in the various medical professions was completely shattered.

With a larger proportion of the Canadian population no longer trusting Canada's medical professionals and health care systems, it doesn't surprise me at all that we're starting to see more questioning of policies such as this one.

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mmastrac3y ago

Can you elaborate on the harmful policies being pushed by medical professionals and public health officials?

cantberight3y ago

Roger Foley, who has a degenerative brain disorder and is hospitalized in London, Ontario, was so alarmed by staffers mentioning euthanasia that he began secretly recording some of their conversations.
In one recording obtained by the AP, the hospital’s director of ethics told Foley that for him to remain in the hospital, it would cost “north of $1,500 a day.” Foley replied that mentioning fees felt like coercion and asked what plan there was for his long-term care.
“Roger, this is not my show,” the ethicist responded. “My piece of this was to talk to you, (to see) if you had an interest in assisted dying.”
Foley said he had never previously mentioned euthanasia. The hospital says there is no prohibition on staff raising the issue.
Catherine Frazee, a professor emerita at Toronto’s Ryerson University, said cases like Foley’s were likely just the tip of the iceberg.

https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-toronto-7c63...

sterlind3y ago

the director of ethics, no less!

which makes sense to me, in a cynical way. euthanasia was an ethical debate, so it makes sense MAID administration would go in ethics department. then as a director, their performance reviews are probably a function the hospital's bottom line. MAID was even promoted as a cost-saving measure. which.. yeah. you can save a ton of money if you only take on healthy patients and kill off the medically complex cases (like me!)

for the record I'm in favor of assisted dying, as a personal decision, but government programs for the disabled are already quite terrible, and the conflict of interest is massive and brutal.

VancouverManOP3y ago

It varied by region, but in Canada we saw nonsensical and harmful policies like the lengthy forced shutdowns of businesses (causing job loss, business loss, and immense stress), lengthy school shutdowns and other education disruptions, curfews, coerced and forced medical procedures (testing, masking, shots), the clothing and shoes sections of retail stores being deemed "non-essential" and being taped off, golf courses and all outdoor playgrounds being closed in Ontario, and so on.

viraptor3y ago

> I think a significant proportion would feel obliged to go along with it, as irrational as this may seem.

It doesn't sound irrational to me. It's doctor's job to describe the available options, possible outcomes, and give recommendations. With enough trust, stating euthanasia as one of the best paths implicitly says: everything else is likely worse - do you really want to go through suffering that has the same end result anyway. And there will be lots of situations where that's literally true.

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