A new survey co-commissioned by the Angus Reid Institute and Cardus found 62 per cent of Canadians are concerned that socially and financially vulnerable citizens will choose euthanasia instead of seeking out adequate and quality health care.

Of the 1,652 participants, just 23 per cent disagree or strongly disagree with the statement “I’m worried about financially or socially vulnerable people considering medical assistance in dying (MAiD) because they can’t access adequate, quality health care.” The remaining 15 per cent answered “not sure/can’t say.”

Health-care workers comprised 468 of the respondents. The data reveals that 61 per cent of these professionals either agreed or strongly agreed that they worry about socially or monetarily helpless Canadians selecting assisted suicide before examining other care options. Just 25 per cent of this group disagreed.

Advertisement

Per the findings, it appears that 40 per cent of those questioned who either actively serve or formerly worked in the health-care field declared they “weren’t really or not at all equipped to deal with the needs of their patients living with disabilities (PWDs).” An even stronger 45 per cent asserted that PWDs receive poor or terrible care.

Additionally, 38 per cent of health-care workers declared that PWDs experience worse speed of access; 36 per cent revealed they receive worse care; and 42 per cent stated their concerns do not merit proper attentiveness.  

Though an alarming proportion of health-care workers have revealed flaws in the system that are negatively affecting PWDs, the survey also shows that 68 per cent of them strongly support or support MAiD with the 2021 criteria that stripped away the foreseeable natural death requirement. This percentage outpaces the backing from people living with severe disabilities (64 per cent), moderate infirmities (65 per cent), lesser ailments (65 per cent) and no disabilities at all (61 per cent).

Advertisement

Nicole Scheidl, executive director of Canadian Physicians for Life, said this demonstrates the further erosion of care standards.

“Euthanasia was largely billed as a choice that would enhance patient autonomy, but the evidence shows that euthanasia is crippling health-care resources and eroding the doctor-patient relationship,” said Scheidl. “It also ruptures relationships and impoverishes community; we need to return to the recognition that we belong to one another.”

It also documents the frustrations experienced by patients.

Of the 148 particpants who indicated they live with a severe disability, 84 said they experienced some form of discrimination in health care, including struggles finding accessible care locations, difficulties securing a primary doctor and perceiving they receive worse speed of access and quality of care compared to when they were not living with a disability.

Eighty-two of the 167 respondents who stated they live with a moderate disability said they have encountered discrimination in health care.

Advertisement

“Disability advocates have long been raising the alarm about how MAiD has introduced increased risk to the lives of vulnerable Canadians, compounding existing issues and discrimination within society and within health care,” said Dr. Rebecca Vachon, health program director at Cardus.  “And as recent MAiD reports from Ontario’s Chief Coroner have shown, alongside reporting on hundreds of compliance issues in Ontario, vulnerable Canadians are paying the price for failures in care.”

Nevertheless, despite all the observed flaws and vulnerabilities in the Canadian euthanasia regime, now the fastest growing in the world, support for MAiD reportedly rose to 63 per cent in 2024, an uptick from 60 per cent in 2023.