Yesterday, one of the fine writers we’ve often featured here at MMN, Wesley J. Smith, was also featured on the Ann and Phelim Scoop (1:07:31 min) to talk about the rapid advance of euthanasia worldwide.

His segment of “Exposed: Is Your Doctor Lying to You?”, based on an earlier interview by journalists Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer, starts at roughly 25 minutes in, as below:

Here is a transcript of some of his observations:

Phelim McAleer: So Wesley, tell us what’s the current state of [25:54] euthanasia. Every day, we wake up we see it seems to be spreading to another state in the United States or another country in the world. Is that is that a accurate picture or is that just us being paranoid?

Wesley J. Smith: I’m afraid it’s like cancer metastasizing. It is spreading all around the country and in the world. Most recently, we’ve seen Delaware approve it here in the United States. It has been legalized in Spain, Netherlands, Belgium… The worst case scenario is Canada we could talk a little bit about that because they’ve gone euthanasia crazy…

Ann McIlhinney: Just before we go forward, why do you think it’s so popular? … Why is it so acceptable suddenly?

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Smith: You know I’ve pondered that quite a bit. I’ve been fighting this agenda for 30 years, and I think what’s happened is that the purpose of society itself is shifting for many people.

It used to be that the purpose of society — the prime purpose — was to protect innocent life [27:00]. That has shifted in many regards to eliminating suffering. And if you decide that eliminating suffering is the most important thing, that very quickly moves to eliminating the sufferer. And then, once you’ve accepted that premise, the idea of what constitutes the kind of suffering that would justify killing as an answer expands and expands and expands.

And so, whatever the starting point is, if euthanasia or assisted suicide is legalized, that’s not the ceiling it’s the launching pad for further loosening — to the point where you even have, in Germany and Estonia, Supreme Court rulings saying that suicide itself is a human right, based on autonomy, that being assisted in suicide for any reason — we’re not talking about health or disability — is a human right, and that assisting is an ancillary human right. And so you are getting to the place where the ultimate destination is slower or faster death on demand. …

McAleer:Tell us how that manifests in Canada.

Smith: Well, it’s actually abandonment [28:23], even though it isn’t sold that way, and many of the people who support it see it that way. It’s based on a total non-confidence vote in the medical system. But again, it’s this fear of suffering.

But the point is, once you open that door to privatized killing — which is what euthanasia is … you open a door to tremendous incursions into human dignity. Now, a lot of people say “Well that’s slippery slope argumentation.” Except it’s now facts on the ground so let’s take a look at Canada.

Canada has gone from allowing euthanasia of the terminally ill to the chronically ill to people with disabilities to people with elderly frailties and so forth. In 2027 they’re going to open euthanasia/lethal jab to people with mental illness in Canada.

The adjacent organ transplant business

Smith: If you decide in Ontario province to ask for euthanasia and the doctor says yes, the doctor then contacts the Oregon Procurement Society who calls you to say “Can we have your liver?” In Ontario, if 29:40 a doctor says “I don’t want to kill someone,” they could be medically disciplined if that person is legally qualified because the courts have said “Your freedom of religion and your freedom of conscience, which are explicitly protected in the Canadian Charter, count less than the person having a right to euthanasia — and you either have to kill that person or provide an effective referral, which means you’ll find a doctor you know will be willing to kill that person.”

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In Canada now, more than 15,000 people a year are killed by euthanasia it’s the fifth leading cause of death because the Canadian people have accepted it hook line and sinker [30:17].

People will say, “Well what difference does that make, we’re the United States.” Well, they’re just our closest cultural cousins! And in the Netherlands and Belgium, you’ve seen the same trajectory. A mentally ill person without any physical illness can go into a hospital be killed, 2 minutes later wheeled into a surgical suite and organs harvested. It objectifies people it turns people into a killable caste and it leads to abandonment.

Again in Canada, you’ve had people ask for euthanasia because they can’t get an oncologist for 9 months, you have doctor teams that go through hospitals for people who are qualified under the law for euthanasia, asking if they want to be killed. The idea that this is some benign only tiny little itsy-bitsy change in medical ethics is baloney. The last twenty years prove it and people can can say “I don’t care” but they can’t say it’s wrong.

The power of social coercion

McAleer: It’s the first resort. [31:22]

McElhinny: Yeah, I saw one story actually today on X where a woman in Canada had asked for, I think, a ramp or she needed a wheelchair because, you know, of her disability. And she was somebody who was an athlete in a prior time in her life and the first thing that was suggested to her was this medically assisted dying as you call — as they call it euphemistically …

We’ve actually even come across a neighbor of ours here in California who has just attended her father’s death and, I think, announced herself as saying “I think I need a hug” you know, and she’d just come back from this rather traumatic situation and…

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Smith: Look at what that puts people in: You are asked to attend a suicide or euthanasia party, which is what they are, a “goodbye party.” You either don’t go and then people will say “You’re abandoning your friend, you’re abandoning Edna” or you go and you’re complicit in it. And you’re validating that person’s fear. [32:21]

The reason they may be wanting to have themselves killed is fear of being a burden. Well when you go and say “Okay I’ll hold your hand,” you’re validating that fear.

People, it’s not about pain; that’s how it’s sold. … Pain can be alleviated if you get proper medical care. It’s because of existential issues such as fear of being a burden, fear of losing the ability to engage in enjoyable activities, fear of your family not remembering you well and so forth. these are really important issues but they can be addressed. [33:00]

And when you ask for euthanasia or you ask for assisted suicide, you don’t get offered suicide prevention you get offered suicide facilitation so what we are becoming is a pro- some suicide society and that’s very dangerous for weak and vulnerable people.

—

Smith goes on to recount how he first became involved with these issues thirty years ago. Earlier in his career, he had been working on consumer advocacy issues with Ralph Nader.

Parting words from Smith, for now: “Most of the things I have warned against about this movement have come true.” (37:53 min)