6 ms·
From my perspective the poll itself is somewhat biased in wording. Personally I'm in favor of not using these terms at all, but explicitly writing out the proce
by anonymouskimmer 3y ago
From my perspective the poll itself is somewhat biased in wording. Personally I'm in favor of not using these terms at all, but explicitly writing out the process in the question: "Are you in favor of allowing people to have medical practitioners inject or provide them with lethal drugs in order to die for reasons of..."
In 2021 there were 10,064 deaths by MAiD in Canada, fewer than 7 were self-administered[1]. Making greater than 99.9% of MAiD deaths euthanasia, or at least consented-to mercy killings. I personally think calling them "assistance in dying" implies an autonomy in the actual act that does not exist. The autonomy is theoretically[2] in the decision (until the exact moment of administration), but this is the case for all suicides.
"Assisted dying" also, to me, implies inevitability. That the person is already dying, and that this process is just made easier. 219 of the 10,064 MAiD deaths (2.18%) in 2021 were of people whose deaths were "not reasonably foreseeable" (not in progress)[1]. "Assisted dying" is a disingenuous term for these deaths, "assisted suicide" is better. I don't know whether the change in terms would have altered the polling results. I'd presume that most people realize that poverty is not a lethal condition, but I don't know what's going through their heads as they answer the question.
[1] - https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/medical-assistance-dying/annual-report-2021.html#chart_3.1 https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/medical-assi...
[2] - Except for those who feel pressured into it for social or economic reasons.