Another military member says a Veteran Affairs case worker hastily offered him assisted suicide — the second member to say so in one month.
“I had been suffering from PTSD and recently had a lot of suicidal thoughts,” he said on a podcast about trauma recovery for Canadian Forces members.
As reported by the National Post, the anonymous individual, given the pseudonym “Bruce,” said he hoped Veterans Affairs would help him transition out of the military and find new doctors. Bruce is an active Canadian Forces member.
“I wasn’t expecting them to let me know, ‘Hey, we had recently won litigation to assist members with MAID (medical assistance in dying), and you know that’s always an option,'” he said.
“I was a little disturbed that if they had mentioned that to somebody else that was even worse off than I was, that could’ve been that little push over the edge.”
As previously reported by The Counter Signal, medical assistance in dying accounted for 3.3% (10,064) of all deaths in Canada last year. In 2020, there were 7,630 MAID deaths, and in 2019 there were 5,661, meaning after two years of lockdowns, requests for assisted dying have nearly doubled.
Bruce told his caseworker he didn’t want to die.
“I said I’m in a good place right now; I don’t need to worry about those things.”
“And she’s like, ‘well I know, but it’s out there. If things get worse, just let us know.'”
Canada has more deaths from assisted suicide than any other country on record. And next year, the parameters for those who qualify to be killed will widen.
Beginning March 17, assisted suicide will be available for anyone with mental illness, like depression.
“The Trudeau Liberals are leaving people with no option but to take their own lives,” said Conservative MP Brad Redekopp.
“Instead of suicide prevention, this government is actively embracing suicide promotion.”