{"id":285708,"date":"2023-02-21T18:44:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T00:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=285708"},"modified":"2023-02-21T11:19:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:19:39","slug":"euthanasia-doctor-regret-patients-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-doctor-regret-patients-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Euthanasia doctor expresses regret for killing patients who weren’t dying"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

In a new interview, a Canadian doctor who commits euthanasia spoke about how “meaningful” her work is \u2014 but also criticized how easy it has become to euthanize someone, even if they aren’t sick or dying.<\/p>\n

Madeline Li spoke with Macleans<\/a> about her experiences, which she described as both “meaningful” and “maddening.” She is the head of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) at University Health Network, and said she has overseen hundreds of cases. Yet she is not on board with the turn Canada’s MAiD program has taken as it expands to include those with mental illness.<\/p>\n

“[M]y opinion is that we shouldn\u2019t be providing MAID for mental disorders \u2014 and more broadly than that, for chronic illness. I don\u2019t think death should be society\u2019s solution for all forms of suffering,” she said. “Society needs to agree on what types of suffering are appropriate to respond to with MAID. If someone is suffering primarily because they can\u2019t afford housing rather than directly from a qualifying medical condition, do we think that death is the appropriate solution for that? If your suffering is because you can\u2019t afford your medication, or other structural vulnerabilities only indirectly related to a medical condition, is that a good reason for MAID?”<\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/a><\/p>\n

She also criticized the expansion of MAiD to allow people who aren’t dying to be eligible, even though she has personally participated in the deaths of such people since then:<\/p>\n

I was on call recently and was consulted to see a patient admitted to the hospital for chronic pain. This patient has a complex medical and psychiatric history, significant trauma and a lot of psychosocial vulnerability. They are lonely. The patient was told there is nothing further that could be done for their pain, and so they asked to apply for MAID.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was not their MAID assessor, but I was asked to consult as a psychiatrist for depression and suicidality. The patient told me that if they didn\u2019t feel quite as lonely, if they felt that anyone cared about them at all, they probably could tolerate their pain better. I expressed to this patient that I thought it would be a great loss to society if they died because they had contributed and still had a lot to offer. In other words, I expressed caring, which seemed to mean everything to this person.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet the person in question couldn’t afford the treatment Li recommended \u2014 psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy \u2014 even though they wanted it. She said they went forward with their application for MAiD, which she said will almost certainly be approved.<\/p>\n

Worse for Li was when she actually killed a patient who was young and healthy \u2014 but had been diagnosed with cancer. Though the patient had a 65% chance of survival, the patient still opted for MAiD, and refused any treatment. That patient’s death was approved, and though Li didn’t agree, she still killed the patient.<\/p>\n

“They saw it as an expression of their autonomy; I saw it as dystopian,” she said, adding, “I didn\u2019t regret it at first. But when I started thinking deeply about how to better safeguard this process, I regretted ending this young person\u2019s life. I just parachuted in, I didn\u2019t know this patient. And I didn\u2019t take the time to have a meaningful discussion with them. I didn\u2019t sit down and say, ‘Why don\u2019t you just try this treatment? If it\u2019s as bad as you think it\u2019s going to be, MAID will be available.’ MAID was so new then, and we were all so focused on patient autonomy. The current law has no place for clinical judgement, and no stipulation for meaningful conversation. If it did, this person may be alive today.”<\/p>\n

The number of people who have opted for assisted suicide or euthanasia in Canada since legalization has quickly skyrocketed<\/a>, and though it has been temporarily delayed<\/a>, the next step is approving MAiD for people with mental illness as their only diagnosis. Already, palliative care<\/a> has suffered, while people with disabilities are pressured<\/a> into death rather than medical treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, Li expresses concern that Canada’s MAiD program has gone too far.<\/p>\n

“I think we have forgotten, over the past several years, that our roles as health care providers is to help patients make the best decisions for themselves,” she said. “I\u2019m not trying to deny patient autonomy \u2014 it\u2019s their decision \u2014 but I don\u2019t think I should blindly defer to autonomy. It\u2019s so nuanced, because again, I have to keep my personal value system out of it. Helping someone die, especially when they wouldn\u2019t otherwise, shouldn\u2019t be a matter of checking things off a list.”<\/p>\n

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In a new interview, a Canadian doctor who commits euthanasia spoke about how “meaningful” her work is \u2014 but also criticized how easy it has become to euthanize someone, even if they aren’t sick or dying. Madeline Li spoke with Macleans about her experiences, which she described as both “meaningful” and “maddening.” She is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":220069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEuthanasia doctor expresses regret for killing patients who weren't dying<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Canadian doctor who commits euthanasia criticized how easy it has become to euthanize someone, even if they aren't sick or dying.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/euthanasia-doctor-regret-patients-dying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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