A recent article in MacLean’s magazine, an influential publication in Canada, argues that the few doctors willing to provide doctor-assisted suicide (or, rather, doctor-assisted murder, as it should be rightly called) in Canada need to be paid more to do it. One such physician, Dr. Tanja Daws, said doctors like her are working at a loss to provide this “service” to their patients.
As our Western culture drifts further from God’s Word, we will only continue to see human life devalued and considered disposable.
Daws, a “hard-core, passionate-to-the-bone” assisted-suicide supporter, argues that doctors in her province can only claim $440 for providing and administering life-ending drugs to their patients. She says this is working at a loss for her as it takes a great deal of time, she asserts, to assess and counsel the patient before eventually administering the drugs.
Allowing doctors to claim more or less money for their services has been shown to influence the care decision the doctor makes. (For example, according to one study, doubling the payout for C-section births increased the number of C-sections by 5.6%.) Daws argues that offering so little money for assisted-suicide services is “disincentivizing” to doctors and will not allow patients access to this kind of service.
It’s startling to see a doctor arguing for more money to perform a life-ending procedure—she is asking the government to pay her more to murder her patients at their request! But, as our Western culture drifts further from God’s Word, we will only continue to see human life devalued and considered disposable. It’s a natural and logical conclusion to the “survival-of-the-fittest” evolutionary mentality that pervades our culture.
Now, many people may blame stories like this on government-run healthcare (like Canada has), but consider this: in an article covering the MacLean’s piece, LifeNews.com pointed to other abuses of assisted suicide. Here in the United States, several terminally ill patients share how their insurance companies refused to provide life-sustaining drugs and services, but offered to pay for end of life drugs. The truth is it is much cheaper to end someone’s life than to keep them alive—MacLean’s notes that assisted suicide is estimated to cut health care costs in Canada by $35–138 million.
As Christians, we must uphold the sanctity of all life—including the life of the unborn, the elderly, and the disabled.
It is no surprise that, regardless of where assisted suicide is legal and what kind of healthcare system offers it, it will be abused. It won’t be used only for those who want it—some will be forced to use it and others will be manipulated into choosing it. Legalizing murder just leads to more abuses.
As Christians, we must uphold the sanctity of all life—including the life of the unborn, the elderly, and the disabled. Because all humans are made in God’s image, we don’t have the authority to decide which humans should live and which shouldn’t.
Yes—we live in a fallen world, and that’s why there is death. But God stepped into history in the person of his Son to save us from what we did! The solution is for people to commit their hearts and minds to the Lord Jesus Christ and to be obedient to his Word.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.