Suicide hotline recommends assisted suicide for disabled Canadian woman

Image credit: Keenan Constance via Pexels

A suicide hotline in Canada advised a disabled woman to avail of Canada’s assisted suicide program in response to her contacting them for help to deal with suicidal thoughts when she wanted to live.

Meghan Schrader, a disability rights activist who also lives with a disability, shared on LifeNews about her friend “Amy” who had contact her and another X user “Rachel”  after Canada expanded its Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) law to allow for disabled people to be included the in program.

Amy had suffered child abuse which left her with PTSD and severe chronic pain. She had expressed she wanted to live, yet was unable to get access to appropriate medical treatmen, and as a result had regularly thought about dying by assisted suicide.

However, when Amy contacted a suicide hotline for to help her with these thoughts, they instead recommended that she opt for assisted suicide.

“Well, MAiD is a legit and legal option. Maybe it’s something you should consider. The medical system seems to be failing you. And you are never going to get the opiate pain medication that you think you need,” they said.

Schrader then explains how herself and Rachel stepped up to help Amy out and talk her out of suicide whenever the thoughts entered her mind.

“The three of us became really good friends. We talked about our experiences with ableism, our struggles to access treatment for our illnesses,” she said. “Various issues had made it impossible for Amy to approach a faith leader about the situation, so Rachel and I did our best to fill that role. At Amy’s request, the three of us prayed together and talked about God.”

“With help from about ten different people, including the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Amy was eventually able to take a train four hours away from home and show up in the emergency room of a hospital that opposes “MAiD” and specializes in chronic pain and mental illness. Amy finally received excellent care,” she continued. “Although Amy sometimes still has symptoms of chronic pain and PTSD and life is still often quite a struggle, Amy’s symptoms are manageable and Amy is not planning to die by “MAiD.” It was my honor to attend Amy’s Zoom birthday party recently.”

Schrader shared Amy’s story in response to assisted suicide advocates calling disability rights activists who were campaigning against assisted suicide as “abusive, bullying and cruel.”

“But I can think of few things more abusive, bullying and cruel then for a suicide prevention hotline operator to tell a caller to go ahead and be killed. I don’t want to live in that world, and like others in the disability justice movement I won’t be quiet while the proponents lay the scaffolding for that to happen,” she said.

Canada made assisted suicide legal under it’s MAiD program back in 2016, however, since, the government have been lifting several restrictions or safeguards, allowing the law to become more extreme. This has given cause for concern, especially as assisted suicide is seemingly being offered as a solution to medical problems, as has been evident in cases such as that of Christine Gauthier, who was offered assisted suicide after expressing frustration over the delays with getting a chair lift put in her home, and that of Roger Foley.

In a latest update on the case of Roger Foley, the Daily Mail reports that Mr Foley is still in hospital after nine years of fighting for his life, where doctors have repeatedly offered him assisted suicide when he has expressed that he wants to live and has repeatedly asked for assisted living at home.

Mr Foley suffers from spinocerebellar ataxia, an incurable brain disease that makes it difficult to move, and thus he requires help to eat, drink and take medication.

Last month, the hospital changed the amber lights in his room for bright blue lights, however, his condition makes his eyes sensitive to bright lights. This change has resulted in Mr Foley being unable to eat and drink, and has since been receiving sustenance through a drip. Now his veins have begun to strain and collapse, putting him at risk of a heart attack or other medical crisis.

He has said he wants to be home for his 50th birthday in September but is unsure if he will still be alive then.

“I don’t know if I’m gonna be alive at the end of this month,” he told the Daily Mail. “I’m fighting to my last breath, but I’m up against a regime that is cruel, desensitized, and out for blood.”

“They know that my body can only last so long without access to food, medicine, and water, and they know that my eyes can't tolerate the light,” he said. “They would be more than happy if I died of a heart attack.”

Concerns over Canada’s assisted suicide law has been brought light, particularly as the UK are currently debating over a bill to legalise assisted suicide. However, after several safeguards and amendments to protect vulnerable people were denied, over 100 MPs who initially supported the bill have indicated they will turn against it, with one MP now suggesting that the bill may fail when it returns to Parliament for a vote.

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute commented, saying: “This is utterly appalling. Suicide hotlines are there to help and prevent suicide – not to recommend it. It is very clear that assisted suicide is being used as an alternative to providing real support and real healthcare to people in need.”

“Assisted suicide is not compassionate and it is not care,” she continued. “Legalising assisted suicide sends us down a dangerous slippery slope where we no longer value human life anymore, and where, as evident in the cases from Canada, people consider it a reasonable option to discard life the moment one suffers with a sickness or a disability that requires treatment. This must stop, because actual lives are on the line.”