By Amy Hasbrouck
This article was first published by Amy Hasbrouck on her Substack (tigerlily61) HERE.
The Liberal government defeated the private members bill that would have prohibited MAiD for people whose requests were based only on a “mental disorder,” (either because it was sponsored by a conservative, or they didn’t want to bother amending the language) even as it announced a policy that would achieve the same end. This was just the latest in the Liberals’ highly (un)democratic moves undertaken with regard to state-sponsored killing of ill and disabled people.
At the same press conference, the Carney administration announced that while people with mental illness will be protected against the coercive effects of the MAiD regime, people with dementia will be thrown under the bus. Because the same prejudice that drives stigma and discrimination against people with a psychiatric disability applies equally (albeit with a slightly different flavour) to people with dementia; “You’d have to be out of your mind to want to live like that.” Euthanasia via advance request creates a motor coach sized loophole for abuse.
Under advance requests, people with dementia have three strikes against them.
The first strike occurs when the person receives a dementia diagnosis. People who have lived as non-disabled who receive any kind of disability diagnosis often face a revelation similar to opening a “Pandora’s box” of frightening ideas about what their life will look like in the future. Such ideas are based on prejudice and stereotypes, starting with children’s fairy tales, developing through movies and TV, then gaining momentum and toxicity on the internet and social media. A person facing a dementia diagnosis will hear dire predictions about loss of dignity and personhood, and be treated to sordid tales of elder abuse or failures of the inadequate, inappropriate and disempowering elder-care infrastructure.
The second strike comes when the person making the advance request, in the aftermath of a shocking diagnosis and in the face of acute disability discrimination and doomsaying, must designate a decision-maker, and describe the conditions that will trigger their demise. The person probably won’t receive much balanced information to counteract the above-mentioned negative stereotypes and horror stories, nor are they likely to hear about the positive aspects of living with dementia, such as:
- The potential for creativity – Art, painting, music and crafting – given time and lack of inhibition. Creative activities require less memory or language, and allow for emotional expression.
- Connection through music: The areas of the brain that process and remember music are often preserved longer. Familiar songs can trigger joy, comfort, and active engagement even with profound memory loss.
- Lowered self-expectation and fewer demands can encourage experimentation and free up energy for hobbies and creative pursuits.
- Jokes and humour can be recycled. Favourite movies or TV shows are new again.
- Living in the Moment: Many people are more able to focus on the present, appreciating sensory pleasures—such as a warm cup of tea, a pet, or a walk outside—without the burden of past regrets or future anxieties.
- Reframing Priorities:
- A diagnosis often prompts people to let go of trivial stressors, slow down, and focus on what brings happiness and connection.
- Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.
- Advocacy and Purpose: Some people with early-stage dementia find renewed identity and purpose in public speaking, writing (such as poetry or memoirs), and advocacy to challenge social stigmas.
- Strengthened Relationships: Shifting the focus away from traditional ideas of “success” to emotional presence can foster deeper, more authentic bonds between partners, family members, and caregivers.
- Incentive for Wellness: Adopting lifestyle changes—such as regular physical exercise, balanced nutrition, social activities, and cognitive stimulation—can improve overall physical health, mood, and mental clarity.
- Preserving Independence: Utilizing daily routines, assistive technology and devices, visual reminders, and self-directed supports helps maintain autonomy, dignity, and a sense of being useful, valued, engaged and in control.
However most general practitioners are not familiar with geriatric rehabilitation and independent living supports. More typically, the “triggering” conditions are listed as a litany of losses that are presented as undignified and intolerable, such as forgetting the names of one’s spouse or children, losing bladder and/or bowel control, being unable to prepare meals or needing help to eat; despite the fact that everyone lives with these realities during the course of their lives.
The third strike happens months or years later, when the designated person decides that the conditions for death have been met. This assumes, of course, that the designee is still alive, available, not alienated, won’t benefit from the person’s demise, and has not burned out from unsupported caregiving, and so can make a deliberate and unbiased determination.
Even if the person has adapted to their disabilities, and has made peace with their dementia, any sign of dissatisfaction – passing frustration, or even just having a bad day – will likely be taken as indicating that they have reached the end of their rope, and want to “get it over with.” Disinterest in, or ambivalence about pursuing euthanasia may be deemed as demonstrating incompetence, since the person is expressing a different view to that stated when they were “competent.”
The euthanasia process having been set in motion, any further expressions or gestures of disagreement or resistance will be interpreted not as a desire to live, but either as desperation to have the process finished, or simply as evidence of incompetence. Such behaviour may be met with deception (clandestine administration of sedatives) and even physical force, in order to honour the person’s wish to avoid a “dehumanizing and undignified death.”
Strike three. You’re dead.
Amy Hasbrouck is Executive Director of Toujours Vivant-Not Dead Yet (Canada) and Board Member of Not Dead Yet – The Resistance (USA).