Finland has no intention of legalising euthanasia. Yet, despite the current right-wing conservative coalition government in place, at least one Finnish doctor has called for the practice of assisted death to be legal, arguing that legalising euthanasia would eliminate suffering.
Palliative physician Juha Hänninen, who is head of the association Right to a Dignified Death, has claimed that government plans to expand palliative care are not enough and that to end suffering, assisted death must be made legal by the government, news outlet Yle reports. Hänninen said:
For the Christian Democrats, this is an ideological issue. They think that it is against God’s will for man to make decisions about the end of his life. And they put these to each other as alternatives. However, in no country where euthanasia law is in force has it reduced the development of hospice and palliative care. Quite the opposite.
In countries where Western democracy and the emphasis on human self-determination and free will are not so important, legalisation has stalled. In that sense, we are a bit backward.
The Finnish public broadcaster also spoke to university lecturer Anja Terkamo-Moisio, who claimed that as many as 85% of the Finnish public were open and supportive of legalisation, including a majority of nurses.
“If we want to reopen the euthanasia debate in Finland, we should study very carefully what citizens, nurses and doctors think about it right now,” Terkamo-Moisio said.
Terkamo-Moisio also noted, however, that some fear euthanasia, once legal, may be expanded to people who have severe mental issues that prevent them from consenting to the procedure.
While the Yle report mentions several countries where euthanasia is legal, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, it did not mention Canada, where euthanasia, known as medical assistance in dying (MAID), has become one of the leading causes of death in several provinces.
According to projections regarding the 2022 MAID statistics in Canada, around 13,500 people died from assisted killing, up from just over 10,000 the prior year. In the French-speaking province of Quebec, MAID deaths accounted for 7% of all of the deaths in the province last year, behind only heart disease and cancer.
Alex Schadenberg, head of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, which campaigns against MAID, claimed that MAID had become normalised within the Canadian medical system saying, “Every major healthcare institution has a MAID team which will literally approach everyone who may qualify for MAID and ask them if they want to die.”
It is largely expected that those seeking MAID would be people facing terminal illnesses or severe disabilities, but the Canadian government is set to open up MAID access to those solely suffering from mental illnesses next year.
MAID has seen several controversies in the past year, with some seeking MAID simply because they are poor, while others, like Canadian military veteran and paralympian Christine Gauthier were offered MAID seemingly out of the blue.
According to Gauthier, her caseworker had suggested MAID after she had complained about delays regarding a wheelchair lift being installed at her home.
Canada also has no legalised death penalty for criminal offences, but at least nine people have been killed in prison after applying for MAID.
The number of prisoners approved for MAID is around 33%, considerably lower than the general population which has an 81% approval rate.
Finland is far behind the ‘progress’ of Canada—and countries like it—on euthanasia, but among the ruling parties, only the Christian Democrats are firmly against legalisation, while the Conservatives have stated they are open to it in cases of severe incurable illnesses.
