StatsCan acknowledges skewing MAID death numbers downward

The agency admitted on X, formerly known as Twitter, to altering the national death statistics by attributing deaths to an underlying condition for which the medically-enabled, government-sanctioned homicide occurred, rather than the act of medical assistance in dying itself.

In the database, the underlying cause of death is defined as the disease or injury that initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death. As such, MAID deaths are coded to the underlying condition for which MAID was requested.
For more info: https://t.co/aVXznOKq9S

— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) November 28, 2023

StatsCan offloaded the blame to the United Nations, as the agency follows the WHO's means of cataloguing deaths which uses attribution to an underlying condition.

Deaths are coded using the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). In the cause of a disability, deaths are coded to the underlying disability or mental health issue that MAID was granted for.

— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) November 28, 2023

The latest data indicates 10,029 medically assisted deaths in Canada in 2021, an increase of 34.7% from the 7,446 deaths in 2020. MAID accounted for 3.3% of all deaths in Canada in 2021, up from 2.4% of all reported deaths in the previous year. But given what we know about how StatsCan counts the data, the numbers are likely far worse.

The College of Surgeons of Ontario advises doctors to not record euthanasia as a cause of death in a draft policy. When completing the medical certificate of death, physicians must list the illness, disease, or disability leading to the request for MAID as the cause of death; and must not make any reference to MAID or the medications administered on the certificate. 

In Canada, the underlying condition for which someone can access euthanasia does not have to be fatal, or even degenerative. The protocols are limited to "grievous and irremediable medical conditions" which include "a serious illness," a "disease or disability or an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed," or the applicant may be experiencing "unbearable physical or mental suffering from your illness, disease, disability or state of decline that cannot be relieved under conditions that you consider acceptable."

Canada's rationed public healthcare means many trying to access the healthcare system are experiencing "unacceptable conditions" which puts them in "unbearable physical and mental suffering." Hip replacements can take up to 18 months in Alberta.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information's most recent wait-time figures show that just 65 per cent of hip replacements and 59 per cent of knee replacements were done within the national standard of six months after consultation with a surgeon. Those people could qualify for MAID under the current regulations. Canadians have already accessed euthanasia due to homelessness, loneliness and diabetes. Veterans have been offered euthanasia rather than better access to veterans' services.

Retired Canadian army veteran Corporal Christine Gauthier was offered ASSISTED DEATH because she complained at how long it was taking to install a stairlift in her home.

This is Trudeau’s Canada

I feel sick .. 😞 pic.twitter.com/ViI0WdXkHU

— Janey (@_Janey_Jay) December 4, 2022

And it's only going to get worse.

In March 2024, people whose only underlying condition is mental illness will be able to qualify for euthanasia. To sign the petition calling on the federal government to remove barriers to care, rather than make it easier to die, visit www.HelpNotHomicide.com.