Canada risks creating a health-care culture where death becomes viewed as a treatment option rather than a last resort, Deacon Larry Worthen believes. 

He warned that expanding euthanasia laws is reducing incentives for governments and health systems to improve disability supports, housing needs and palliative care access.

“The strongest thing is sometimes the following statement: if death is a therapeutic solution, what is the incentive to do anything else? When they legalized it, they told us it would be exceedingly rare and a last resort. But now what is happening is that MAiD is no longer seen as a last resort — it’s seen as a viable treatment option,” he said.

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Concerns about the ever-expanding eligibility for medically-provided death and pressures placed on vulnerable persons to opt for MAiD have been at the centre of the public presentations led by Worthen, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada (CMDA). 

Worthen, a lawyer and permanent deacon from the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, said the country is moving away from improving care for vulnerable patients and toward normalizing MAiD.

Worthen criticized Parliament’s decision to expand euthanasia eligibility, including the plans to allow access for individuals suffering solely from mental illness. (Though reports say the federal government is poised to shelve this expansion. A decision was due for release on June 18, after the Register’s press deadline).

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He said that many Canadians misunderstand why people seek a MAiD death, believing it is driven by unbearable physical pain, pointing out that research shows that many other reasons are cited, including the loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities, isolation, fearing loss of dignity and/or becoming a burden on family members or caregivers.

However, Worthen stressed that many such concerns, including pain, can be addressed through access to palliative care and stronger social supports.

“A good consultation with a palliative care doctor may help to talk through the progression of illness and explain how pain can be dealt with at each step. Are people being given the support they need to deal with their illness and recognize that their life — albeit short — is still worth living?”

Worthen also expressed concern about access to palliative care across Canada, with only a minority of Canadians having access to quality end-of-life services.

Worthen argued that many people facing disabilities, chronic illness or mental health struggles are not receiving adequate care before considering assisted death, pointing to cases involving Canadians with disabilities or chronic illnesses who sought medically-provided death simply because they were facing poverty, housing instability or limited access to medical supports.

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Worthen said disability organizations across Canada have raised alarms about the expansion of medically-provided death eligibility, arguing vulnerable people can be pressured toward assisted death because of inadequate social supports.

Worthen questioned whether the country’s health-care system has sufficient psychiatric resources in place to assess such cases responsibly. MAiD can be accessed within three months, but the wait time to see a psychiatrist in Canada is approximately six months.