'Alarming' warning as one in 20 Canadian deaths due to assisted dying

Almost one in 20 deaths in Canada are now due to assisted dying

It is a list which remains broadly similar every year the world over everywhere in the Western world: the most common causes of death.

Heart disease, cancer and dementia usually top the rankings, followed by injuries and accidents - and chronic respiratory illnesses. But now, Canada’s latest statistics show that almost one in 20 deaths recorded in the country are due to assisted dying, as opposed to natural causes.

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The increase, which has seen assisted deaths rise by nearly 16 per cent last year - a slowdown on the previous annual increases of closer to a third since the legislation was introduced eight years ago - leaves it with a similar proportion to that of the Netherlands, which legalised the practice in 2002.

The analysis comes as the UK’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill moves through the parliamentary process, having been passed by 330 to 275 MPs at its second reading in an historic Commons vote.

While this Bill would only apply to England and Wales, if Westminster approves it, the pressure on MSPs to pass similar legislation being considered by the Scottish Parliament will increase.

Supporters of assisted dying point to figures showing that a proportion of terminally ill people already turn to suicide - either assisted or unassisted.

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Pro-euthanasia campaign group My Death, My Decision says it is believed at least one British citizen per week already travels to Switzerland for an assisted death – a six fold rise since 2005.

Campaigners in Parliament Square, London, in favour of the proposed bill to legalise assisted dying.Campaigners in Parliament Square, London, in favour of the proposed bill to legalise assisted dying.
Campaigners in Parliament Square, London, in favour of the proposed bill to legalise assisted dying. | Getty Images

It also points to stats from the US state of Oregon where around a third of people approved for assisted deaths decide not to take their life-ending medication, which it claims is due to having the security of knowing they can end their suffering if it ever became too much to bear.

The figures from Health Canada, where around 15,300 people underwent assisted dying last year - accounting for 4.7 per cent of all deaths - have been branded “alarming” by those against the practice, including Christian think tank Cardus, which recently published a report showing the country’s scheme was the fastest growing in the world. Indeed, the country was cited in the run-up to the UK bill vote as being an example of a nation with assisted dying that has a lower level of safeguards than should be considered in the UK.

There, assisted suicide, known there as “Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)”, can be granted if a person’s death is "reasonably foreseeable", while in 2021, access was expanded to people who may not have a terminal diagnosis, but want to end their life because of a chronic, debilitating condition.

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Meanwhile, the option is likely to be considered to people suffering from mental health conditions by 2027.

The latest report, however, found natural death was "reasonably foreseeable" in about 96 per cent of people who went on to receive MAiD, while the median age of recipients was about 78.

In the Netherlands, a doctor has to be able to assess whether a patient’s suffering is “unbearable and without prospect of improvement”. However, unlike in Canada, where a patient has to be over 18, Dutch minors over the age of 12 are allowed to put in a request for assisted dying. A parliamentary committee recommendation to extend the law to minors in Canada in 2023 has so far not been adopted.

Interestingly, the Canadian province of Quebec, which has long been compared to Scotland due to its size and passionate independence movement, has a far higher proportion of MAiD than the rest of Canada, accounting for nearly 37 per cent of the country’s assisted deaths, despite having just over a fifth of Canada's population.

The Quebec government has launched an investigation into why its rates are so high.

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