An article published by Spark Chronicles indicates that since legalizing euthanasia on June 25, 2021, Spain has had at least 50 euthanasia deaths and 130 requests.

The article states that data from 10 out of the 17 autonomous regions in Spain indicated that the majority of the euthanasia deaths have been for neurodegenerative or oncological diseases and out of 130 known applications, (74%) were approved and approximately half of the applicants died before the euthanasia could be done.

Spain’s euthanasia law is oriented toward approving euthanasia for people with disabilities. Spain approves euthanasia for:

“serious, chronic and debilitating conditions or serious, incurable diseases causing intolerable suffering”

The data confirms my concerns related to euthanasia for people with disabilities.

Today, Dec .3, is International Day of Persons with Disabilities as designated by the United Nations—a time to remember the importance of those who live with disabilities.

“Human rights belong to all human beings regardless of ability or disability,” says Scott Fischbach, executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach (MCCL GO). “Yet too often the lives of people with disabilities are devalued. Too often young human beings are subjected to the destruction of abortion or infanticide after an adverse diagnosis. Too often older persons are subjected to euthanasia when dealing with the challenges of illness and disability.”

U.N.

An inspiring story was published on October 3 by Tubantia news  (Netherlands) concerning Emma (20). Three years ago her mental illness was considered too complex and she was told that she was “out of treatment.” Her practitioners said they could do nothing more for her depression, eating disorder and addictions.

Emma decided that there is hope and she gave treatment one more try. Three years later Emma is training to become an expert in psychiatry and inspiring others.

Emma’s story was shared by Tubantia after her LinkedIn message received ten thousand likes and hundreds of reactions from complete strangers. Emma said:

“And to think that I was afraid of getting negative reactions.

10% of newborn deaths in Belgium are euthanasia deaths.

A recent study has brought to light the practice of deliberate euthanasia to newborns for whom the medical team considered that there was “no hope of a bearable future”. These practices concerned 10% of the neonates (0-1 year) who died in Flanders, between September 2016 and December 2017 (i. e., 24 babies).

This practice is illegal in Belgium, yet no authority seems to take offense. The law only allows the euthanasia of a minor if he or she is capable of discernment and conscious at the time of the request for euthanasia.

Dr. Sonu Gaind, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a former president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association, leads his hospital MAID [Medical Assistance in Dying] team. He sat on the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on MAID and Mental Illness and wrote a scathing article opposing Bill C-7 which the Liberals in Parliament passed in March 2021.

In his article–New assisted dying law threatens vulnerable citizens – that was published in the Hamilton Spectator on August 17— Gaind states that he came from an immigrant family that came to Canada when Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister.

Early advocates of euthanasia promoted advance directives as a benign tool to help patients’ direct healthcare decisions during end of life care. Since no document can cover every possible scenario, these documents have exposed and subjected patients to unintended withdrawal or denial of life-saving treatment. Life-affirming alternatives to advance directives are available.

Now, the slippery slope of euthanasia has reared its ugly head again, this time with a new and disturbing proposal.

It is a “high-tech” advance directive that would take euthanasia to an alarming level.

Euthanasia advocates have proposed a new way to end the lives of patients suffering from dementia. 

The disability community has been rightly concerned with the cultural attitudes towards people with disabilities. This story clearly warns us about the pressure to extend euthanasia to children but also the belief that it is OK to kill children with disabilities.

An article by Fabienne Tercaefs for Radio Canada on August 12, 2021 (Google translated) concerns Karie-Lyn Pelletier, from the L’Islet region in Québec, who wants her son, Abel, who has Mednik syndrome to die by euthanasia (MAiD).

According to the article Abel is severely disabled, he is deaf, lives with a severe intellectual disability and has daily intestinal problems and has already come close to death several times.

A recent article published by leading bioethics journal “The Hastings Center Report”, has proposed an implant that would automatically trigger a lethal drug at the onset of dementia.

In the report, co-authors Margaret Battin and Brent M. Kious, proposed the introduction of an “advance directive implant” (ADI) in an article titled “Ending One’s Life in Advance”. There is even a precedent for this proposed implant: Norplant, a controversial contraceptive implant that was withdrawn from the UK in 1999. Like Norplant, the ADI would be reversible and programmable, but the drugs it would release would cause death instantaneously. It would likely be implanted at the onset of dementia and programmed to activate according to the patient’s prognosis.