Tag: euthanasia

“Catholic” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Moves to Legalize State-Sanctioned Suicide

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is moving the Empire State toward legalizing medical-assisted suicide, rebranding it as “medical aid in dying.”

You don’t “aid” dying. Dying happens on its own. The state is approving of the intentional ending of human life.

In an op-ed published by the Times Union, Hochul made clear that she intends to sign the so-called Medical Aid in Dying Act, which would allow terminally ill patients with fewer than six months to live to receive drugs designed to “speed up the inevitable.”

Supporters describe the proposal as “compassionate.” Opponents describe it far more bluntly: state-sanctioned suicide.

In her op-ed, Hochul attempted to wrap the legislation in lofty language about America’s founding principles, claiming that “limited government and broad individual rights” somehow justify empowering doctors to help patients end their lives.

She framed the issue as one of “bodily autonomy,” placing assisted suicide alongside abortion, LGBTQ ideology, and other far-left priorities New York Democrats have aggressively pushed for years.

For the modern Left, “choice” is the ultimate moral trump card, even when that choice involves ending a human life.

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State-Sanctioned Suicide Is The 4th Leading Cause Of Death In Canada

Canada’s government-run euthanasia program increased its death toll again last year, taking more than 16,000 lives, and placing medically assisted suicide as the fourth leading cause of death in the country.

According to an annual report published by the Canadian government, 16,499 people were killed through the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program in 2024, increasing 6.9 percent from the previous year. Close to 75 percent of the 22,535 people who applied for the program were approved.

The report authors stated that the number of deaths is possibly stabilizing, while admitting that “long-term trends” have not yet been identified. Based on 2023 numbers, an estimated 1 in 20 deaths are government-directed.

Expanding the Death Program

The horrors of government-funded murder should not be understated. Canada’s program has grown every year since it began, as restrictions continue to loosen, despite reports of corrupt and coercive practices. Developed countries view Canada as a “cautionary tale” where government killing has become an expansive and accepted norm.

First legalized in 2016, the country’s assisted-suicide law has had multiple revisions, expanding beyond patients with terminal diagnoses.

Candidates in MAID are organized within two categories, or “tracks.” Applicants are placed in Track 1 if they have a terminal diagnosis or “reasonably foreseeable death,” while Track 2 is reserved for those who have no terminal diagnosis but are living with a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.” The majority of those killed through Track 2 were women, with an average age of 75.9 years, while men held a slight majority in Track 1, averaging an age of 78.

The government offers “broad categories … to practitioners for MAID reporting purposes,” to include cancer, neurological conditions, and “other.” The “other” category encompasses some highly treatable diseases, such as diabetes and chronic mental disorders. Hearing and visual issues are included as possible selections.

Even more striking, more than four percent of MAID applicants who were killed had neither a terminal diagnosis nor “reasonably foreseeable death.” Many suffered from isolation and felt a burden to their caregivers. The government has capitalized on these vulnerabilities and is seeking to expand its reach.

Access for mental health patients with no other underlying disease is currently being considered for approval in 2027, and in the province of Quebec, an advance request to enroll in MAID is now legal under certain conditions. This request could be granted at the onset of a disease, even if a person is unable to choose life-ending drugs due to mental or physical incapacities later on, leaving more vulnerable persons entrapped in the deadly system.

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Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Signs Bill Legalizing Assisted Suicide for Terminally Ill

Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker expanded his state’s culture of death on Friday by signing a bill into law legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people. 

Illinois is now the 12th state, plus Washington, DC, that allows physicians to assist terminally ill people in killing themselves — all in the name of “choice,” compassion, and easing end-of-life suffering. Pritzker signed the bill despite concerns from opponents that such a law could be a slippery slope (look no further than Canada) and could be used to coerce people with disabilities and financial hardships to choose death. 

“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones who have suffered from a devastating terminal illness — and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said in a statement. 

“Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives,” he continued. 

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American Generosity Solving Canadian Socialized Healthcare Woes

Why should it fall to an American radio and television personality to solve the problems of Canadian socialized medicine?

One poor woman in our neighbor up north recently turned to Canada’s MAID program (medical assistance in dying, or assisted suicide) because she could not get a referral for a needed surgery, and the pain had become more than she could bear.

Over the past two days, TV and radio star Glenn Beck has been reaching out to assist Jolene Van Alstine of Saskatchewan to assist her. She needs surgery to remove her parathyroid gland. However, there’s no one available to do that in her home province of Saskatchewan. She can’t go see anyone outside of the province because, thanks to Canada’s socialized medicine, she’d need a referral by seeing an endocrinologist – and none of them are accepting new patients.

Glenn’s post linked to a woman who reposted part of an article from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The CBC is the media company supported by the Canadian government. 

Over the next two days, crowd-sourced tips led Glenn’s team to Jolene’s contact information, as well as appropriate surgeons who were willing to take on her care.

Glenn posted on the latest installment of the saga Wednesday, when he announced that Jolene doesn’t have a passport, but his team was working to overcome this hurdle.

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23,000+ Canadians died waiting for health care in one year as Liberals pushed euthanasia

Over 23,000 Canadians have died while on waitlists for medical care as Liberals focused on euthanasia expansions.

According to government figures published on November 26 by Canadian think tank SecondStreet.org, 23,746 patients died on government waiting lists for health care between April 2024 and March 2025.

“What’s really sad is that behind many of these figures are stories of patients suffering during their final years – grandparents who dealt with chronic pain while waiting for hip operations, people leaving children behind as they die waiting for heart operations, so much suffering,” SecondStreet.org President Colin Craig explained.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. If we copied better-performing European public health systems, we could greatly reduce patient suffering,” he continued.

According to the data, collected through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, there has been a three percent increase of deaths while on waitlists compared to last year. The number is likely much higher, as the reports did not include figures from Alberta and some parts of Manitoba.

Data further revealed that 100,876 Canadians have died while waiting for care since 2018, thanks to increased wait times and insufficient staffing.

“It’s interesting that governments will regularly inspect restaurants and report publicly if there’s a minor problem such as a missing paper towel holder,” Craig noted. “Meanwhile, no government reports publicly on patients dying on waiting lists. It’s quite hypocritical.”

At the same time, the Liberal government has worked to expand euthanasia 13-fold since it was legalized, making it the fastest growing euthanasia program in the world. Meanwhile, Health Canada has released a series of studies on advance requests for assisted suicide.

As LifeSiteNews reported earlier this week, so-called “Medical Assistance in Dying” is responsible for more than 5 percent of all deaths in Canada in 2024.

At the same time, internal documents from Ontario doctors in 2024 that revealed Canadians are choosing euthanasia because of poverty and loneliness, not as a result of an alleged terminal illness.

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Health Canada report finds euthanasia now accounts for over 5% of deaths nationwide

Death by doctor-assisted lethal injection, under the title Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), now accounts for over 5 percent of all deaths in Canada.

In November, Health Canada published the Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying, which tracked the expansion of euthanasia in 2024, with 16,499 Canadians receiving MAiD, amounting to 5.1 percent of the total deaths in Canada.

“The Government of Canada will continue its work to help ensure that the legislation on MAiD reflects the needs of people in Canada, protects those who may be vulnerable, and supports autonomy and freedom of choice,” the report asserts.

Health Canada noted that MAiD is not considered a cause of death by the World Health Organization and, therefore, “the number of MAiD provisions should not be compared to cause of death statistics in Canada in order to determine the prevalence (the proportion of all decedents) nor to rank MAiD as a cause of death.”

However, the government agency did admit that 16,499 people received MAiD in 2024, which amounted to 5.1 percent of “people in Canada who died.”

The report noted that that was “a small (0.4%) increase from 2023,” adding that “this percentage may change with final counts of deaths in Canada from Statistics Canada.”

Notably, the year-over-year increase was 6.9 percent, a significant slowdown from prior years, such as the 36.8 percent increase from 2019–2020. Health Canada suggested that MAiD provisions are beginning to “stabilize,” though long-term trends require more years of data.

According to the data, 95.6 percent of the deaths were Track 1, meaning those whose death was foreseeable, compared to only 4.4 percent being Track 2 requests, which end the lives of those who are not terminally ill but have lost the will to live due to their having chronic health problems.

“Although Track 2 provisions represented 4.4% of MAiD cases in 2024, they represented close to a quarter (24.2%) of all MAiD requests that were assessed as ineligible,” the report stated.

At the same time, internal documents from Ontario doctors in 2024 that revealed Canadians are choosing euthanasia because of poverty and loneliness, not as a result of an alleged terminal illness.

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Trump State Dept. declares abortions, euthanasia, transgender surgeries ‘human rights violations’

Federal officials will recognize the intentional destruction of innocent preborn babies as well as the surgical and chemical mutilation of children as human rights violations, according to the State Department.

Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told The Daily Signal that countries receiving foreign aid will be required to include “the mutilation of children” in their annual reporting to the United States.

“In recent years, new destructive ideologies have given safe harbor to human rights violations,” Pigott said. “The Trump administration will not allow these human rights violations, such as the mutilation of children, laws that infringe on free speech, and racially discriminatory employment practices, to go unchecked. We are saying enough is enough.”

“Racially discriminatory” practices include favoring non-white applicants for jobs or other benefits, a practice sometimes called “affirmative action.”

The human rights reports are a standard requirement for countries receiving taxpayer dollars.

“The State Department submits Human Rights Reports on all countries receiving assistance and all United Nations member states to Congress in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974,” The Daily Signal explained.

Other human rights violations that must be tracked include sanctions for so-called “hate speech,” supporting mass migration into other countries, “attempts to coerce individuals into engaging in euthanasia,” “violations of religious freedom, including antisemitic violence and harassment,” and support for “forced testing, forced organ harvesting, and eugenic gene-editing practices on human embryos.”

A medical reform group that opposes transgender drugs and surgeries for minors thanked the Trump administration for “setting a clear moral standard” on this issue, as well as others, such as DEI.

“Do No Harm commends the Trump administration for highlighting toxic ideologies around the globe as the first step to eliminating them,” Executive Director Kristina Rasmussen told LifeSiteNews via a media statement.

“Engaging in racial discrimination or pushing irreversible gender medicalization on children is unacceptable – whether here at home or abroad,” Rasmussen said. “The State Department is leading the way in protecting the vulnerable and setting a clear moral standard for the world.”

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Canadian government forcing doctors to promote euthanasia to patients: report

Canadian doctors are warning that Health Canada’s push for euthanasia is forcing doctors to suggest assisted suicide to patients.

In a November 6 video by Christian filmmaker Frank Panico, three Canadian doctors, Will Johnston of Vancouver, David D’Souza of Toronto, and Catherine Ferrier of Montreal, revealed that physicians are forced to discuss euthanasia or so-called “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) with vulnerable patients according to Health Canada protocol.

“If a physician is suggesting euthanasia as an option or a treatment option for their pain or their suffering, then that is a very serious thing,” D’Souza, a family physician and a pain specialist in Ontario, warned.

“As a patient is more likely to take this option given that a health professional has suggested it,” he continued. “I think it does severe harm to the doctor patient relationship when physicians are now allowed and even suggesting euthanasia as a means to end their suffering.”

D’Souza’s concerns are in response to 2023 guidelines by Health Canada, titled “Model Practice Standard for Medical Assistance in Dying to Ensure Consistent and Safe Practice in Canada.” The document mandates that doctors and nurses must tell a patient about the assisted suicide options available to them while discussing medical care.

“[Physicians/Nurse Practitioners] must take reasonable steps to ensure persons are informed of the full range of treatment options available to relieve suffering,” subsection 6.1 notes, falsely presenting suicide as “treatment.”

Echoing D’Souza’s warning, Johnston, a Vancouver family physician and head of B.C.’s Euthanasia Resistance Coalition, explained that the regulations contradict previous promises that medical personnel would not be forced to participate in the practice.

“Promises were made that no doctor would ever be coerced to participate in euthanasia, no doctor or nurse would ever lose their job because they wouldn’t cooperate with euthanasia,” he declared.

“No hospital would have to do it. No nursing home, no palliative care unit would be forced to host doctors killing patients who wanted to die. All of that was a complete fiction. All of those things have now happened,” Johnston lamented.

Similarly, Ferrier of the Division of Geriatric Medicine at McGill University Health Centre recalled doctors pushing assisted suicide on a family member who had brain cancer.

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Disabled Canadians increasingly under pressure to opt for euthanasia during routine doctor visits

Inclusion Canada CEO Krista Carr revealed that many disabled Canadians are being pressured to end their lives with euthanasia during routine medical appointments.

During an October 8 session of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Carr, an advocate against Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), explained that Canada’s expansion of MAiD to the non-terminally ill has led to people with disabilities being pressured to end their lives during unrelated medical visits.

“Since the bill was brought in around Track 2 MAID … that has certainly changed people’s interactions with the healthcare system,” she explained, referring to the 2021 expansion that allowed those who are chronically ill but not terminally ill to be euthanized.

“People with disabilities are now very much afraid in many circumstances to show up in the health care system with regular health concerns, because often MAID is suggested as a solution to what is considered to be intolerable suffering,” she revealed.

Overall, 116 of Ontario’s 4,528 euthanasia deaths in 2023 involved non-terminal patients, with many of those killed from impoverished communities.

Data from Ontario’s chief coroner for 2023 revealed that over three-quarters of those euthanized when death wasn’t imminent required disability support before their death.

Similarly, nearly 29% of those killed when they were not terminally ill lived in the poorest parts of Ontario, and only 20% of the province’s general population lives in those areas.

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Organ harvesting SURGES in woke dystopia pushing euthanasia as a cure for depression

Organ harvesting has surged across Canada, fueled by controversial assisted suicides offered to people battling depression, not terminal illness.

Canada legalized Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in 2016, allowing medical professionals to either administer a lethal injection or prescribe a drug that eligible patients can take themselves to end their lives. 

Those who opt for MAiD can also agree to donate their organs after death, voluntarily giving them to patients in need of a transplant.

But today, even Canadians who aren’t terminal can qualify for the government’s assisted suicide program – from those battling autoimmune diseases and diabetes to chronic pain sufferers who could live for years with proper care. 

The controversial policy was delayed until March 2024 amid fierce arguments that it could be exploiting the most vulnerable, pressuring them to give up their organs to others deemed more deserving.

‘Will they recognize that we need to treat depression and give people hope for a better life rather than ending their lives?’ Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told CBC at the time.

Yet Canada’s euthanasia program has since become a ‘world leader’ in organ harvesting, with 15,280 doctor-assisted suicide deaths reported in 2023 – a 15 percent jump on the previous year.

Many of these patients weren’t even dying, and records suggest that up to 25 percent of Ontario MAiD providers may have skirted the criminal code. 

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