Deadly Serious About MAiD
Doctors don’t typically stay at the bedside of their dying patients. They are usually called just to confirm the passing. So, it’s probably fair to say that I’ve stood by the bedside of more dying people than the average doctor. Pastors are often invited by the family to be present for the final moments of a dying loved one. I’ve witnessed enough passings from this life to speak with some insight into the new craze called “MAiD” sweeping our land.
And yes, it’s sweeping our country with such force that other countries are calling it “an international cautionary tale” (Jonathan Van Maren). In a 2023 National Post opinion article, Barbara Kay observed that a writer for The Critic, a British magazine, alluding to bad domestic public policies that arise from good intentions instinctively, deduced that Canada’s MAiD, “originally marketed as a rational choice for sensible adults and therefore an indisputable moral good, is now being used to kill the poor and the mentally ill, as well as the physically sick and the elderly.” And if there is any doubt about that fact, I invite the reader to watch the CBC’s own Fifth Estate, which aired just this year. It’s called “The Mess That Is MAiD” and asks the question, “Is it too easy to die in Canada? Surprising approvals for medically assisted death.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plinQAHZRvk
The statistics tell a cautionary tale. Taken from the Government of Canada’s own website, we learn with shocking reality that growth in the number of medically assisted deaths in Canada continues to climb year over year.
- In 2021, there were 10,064 MAiD provisions reported in Canada, accounting for 3.3% of all deaths in Canada.
- The number of cases of MAiD in 2021 represents a growth rate of 32.4% over 2020. All provinces continue to experience steady year-over-year growth.
- When all data sources are considered, the total number of medically assisted deaths reported in Canada since the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation that allows eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying in 2016 is 31,664.
Here are the hard numbers: 2016: 1014; 2017: 2816; 2018: 4467; 2019: 5631; 2020: 7595; 2021: 10, 064, now totalling 3.3% of all deaths in Canada.
Compare those statistics with a state like California that shares the approximate population of Canada, and you will discover that we are way ahead of even the most liberal of jurisdictions. California had 486 assisted suicide deaths in 2021. Canada had 10,064 in that same year.
Perhaps the most disturbing discovery for me came when I read with shock the MAiD activity book for children ages 6 to 12, funded by our government. Our children are being groomed, and this is only one area where that is happening. Children can colour while being educated on the cold facts of doctor-assisted dying. See it for yourself. (https://www.virtualhospice.ca/maid/media/3bdlkrve/maid-activity-book.pdf)
Here’s the truth about dying: There is no such thing as a “good death.” You are no more in control by choosing a lethal injection than if you choose palliative care. You are, in fact, giving up whatever influence and impact you have left on those who love you. And that’s the real question that needs to be carefully pondered. In making it “easier” on yourself and your loved ones, you may be in fact robbing them of their greatest chance at being fully human. Suffering brings out the best of us, not necessarily the worst. Labouring with our loved ones as they die is, in my view, one of the most sacred callings. The same grief, pain, anger, confusion, and loss will still be there, but ONLY IT WILL BE LAYERED in a pseudo-triumphant encasing of projections and postures that don’t easily allow those who are left behind to pass successfully through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and move on with their lives. I see a catastrophic backlash coming in the emotional toll that our newfound love of ‘beating death” will exact upon us.
Only 10% of our population will die in a major medical incident, leaving 90% of us to think long and hard about the choices we will make at the end of life. As a Christian, I’m committed to dying as faithfully as I can. And believe me, I don’t look forward to that day. I will only be faithful when God gives me the grace to die. Grace will be given to keep me faithful to honour God in my suffering. I am faithful to walk my journey to the end, trusting in the Lord. After all, it was Jesus, who suffered a gruesome and painful death, who subsequently called us to be “faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).
As you can read, I’m deadly serious about convincing you to reject MAiD and to choose God’s appointed way of putting off the corruptible body to receive your incorruptible resurrected body. Over the next two Sundays, I want to talk to you about “End of Life Faith.” This Sunday, I want to lay out the objections that people of faith will have toward MAiD. The following Sunday, I will give you our Biblical rationale for being as we are.
See you then,
Pastor Deric