{"id":1556,"date":"2016-05-02T17:34:36","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T21:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/collectif.lesartsmartial.com\/en\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2016-05-02T17:34:36","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T21:34:36","slug":"having-fewer-options-to-live-will-entice-people-to-ask-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectifmedecins.org\/en\/having-fewer-options-to-live-will-entice-people-to-ask-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Having fewer options to live will entice people to ask to die"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keeping its promise, the Couillard government is starting to cut services. The Agence de la sant\u00e9 et des services sociaux of Montreal will chop $87 million in mental health and in care for the elderly<\/a>, starting this October. Among other cuts, hundreds of people with intellectual disabilities will lose the meagre compensation they receive.<\/p>\n

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We recently heard that a disabled man committed suicide rather than having to leave his apartment<\/a>. A journalist commented that “he decided to end his life because he could no longer handle an inhuman system.”<\/p>\n

Little by little, the government eliminates options for people with disabilities and the elderly. The system, already seen as “inhuman”, will become even harder to endure for these vulnerable groups.<\/p>\n

While cutting services, the government is moving forward with the implementation of the Act respecting end-of-life care<\/a>. Plans are underway to institute “medical aid in dying” in Quebec by December 2015. Recent figures from the Netherlands<\/a> confirm the incremental extension of the scope of euthanasia laws<\/a>. Safeguards in the Quebec law will not hold for long, especially if people feel coerced to die, having fewer and fewer options for life.<\/p>\n

The majority of people who left comments on the article announcing the cuts for people with intellectual disabilities are shocked.<\/p>\n