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Canada is far from perfect, but I'm grateful as hell to live in a country where we have this choice. It's an intensely personal decision, but I believe we all have the right to make it.
It goes without saying that a lot of right-wingers, both inside and outside of Canada, are outraged about the process, called MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying), spreading wild opinions that it's eugenics, that the government does the choosing, etcetera. But fuck 'em.
Anyway, safe journey for this young woman. I'm glad her pain has ended.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-services-benefits/medical-assistance-dying.html
GrimleyGraves
Respect. We have laws like that here in the US but there are so many "conditions" that have to be met that it'll rarely, if ever, be used.
TanithRosenbaum
it is the way it always is with right-wingers, every accusation is a confession (or at least a statememt of intent). They claim it's eugenics or that the government supposedly chooses who dies because that's what they want to do and would do.
TheFastpaws
I fully believe people should be allowed to end their lives on their own terms. It makes me wish there was an afterlife though. Something better than this shit we live on.
Gwenx
My mom worked at a Hospice, they got in a 45 year old woman with Dementia, she had a child under the age of 10, and a husband.
She was not originally from this country.
She was diagnoed 4 months priror to getting into hospice, she died 2 months after getting in.
She was scared, frantic, could no longer speak the language, the nurses wasnt allowed to touch or undress her, she was violent, and my mom came home crying every single day, she told me its the most horrible and terrible thing to witness
Gwenx
Wierdly enough my mom is against Assisted Dying.
A lot of nurses are at least here in Denmark.
But she does agree that this 45 year old lady suffered the most horrible scenario imaginable and it might have been better had she died before she regressed to a child like state woth no memory of her life in Denmark.
I think we should have Assisted Dying, in certain cases. People argue that people will "go in from the street and get help comitting suicide" clearly there will be rules and regulations
Protoplastico
Years ago the whole world vilified Dr. Jack Kevorkian for his pioneering efforts in medically assisted suicide. I was on board then as I still am now. Here in the USA, there are only 13 states (and strangely enough, also in DC) that allow this. I do not live in one of those states, and between experiences with my own relatives and my spouse who works in Hospice, I feel this should be a no-brainier. No one should be forced to die slowly in agony. It's completely inhumane.
Feralkyn
It should definitely be legal though it should also be remembered that he was kind of batshit insane (the genius insane variety), a lot of his "patients" were people he'd barely met and some were not even sick, and his end goal was experimenting on death row prisoners, disabled infants etc. under anaesthesia. Guy was on the right side but maaaybe not for all the right reasons.
KAPTKipper
Ah, so this is why Facebook is full of fake/exaggerated stories of assisted dying.
Margrave9000
Nazis like to invent & disseminate fake stories.
LobotomyPending
Meanwhile in the US suicide is illegal specifically to allow cops to break into your house to prevent you from doing it (or shoot you themselves if you get too troublesome bc god knows they can de-escalate worth a damn)
LobotomyPending
*can't de-escalate worth a damn
BackPackJohniee
Having watched my father, my grand mother, and a great-aunt all get consumed by Alzheimer's, I fully understand the path she chose.
Fuck cancer, but holy shit, fuck Alzheimer's just as hard.
twoamartist
I’m in tears. I’ve been grateful to have had loved ones be able to choose hospice care (NJ). It was gut wrenching, but dignified. Which is what we all deserve. This is the way. So much love to her and her loved ones.
a1b3117
Nj now has this as an option but it seems pretty rare and has been held up with court a few times. Nj.com also wrote recently about how its so expensive and their series would lead most people to think the doctors who are involved are ripping people off
twoamartist
That was not my experience at all. The program is free and they come to you. There are no doctors involved. Just comfort care.
a1b3117
They had a number of stories, but the at least one was about how most doctors won't do it while a few are speciizing it in and offer expensive concierge type services.
https://www.nj.com/news/2026/06/this-nj-doctor-will-help-you-die-for-a-hefty-price.html
frishhawk
Now we need it for depression, but it looks like they're not going to do it.
Margrave9000
Fuck those Nazis.
Kingdomonsterdeath
Depression is a hard one to justify assisted death for. It absolutely kills people, but is very difficult to determine terminal cases unlike alzheimers. It would need to be a long process of trying different medications, therapies, and other avenues before the case would be made for assisted death. I'm not saying it won't happen eventually, just that depression and mental health illnesses are going to be a lot more involved than say terminal cancer or dementia.
frishhawk
I'd rather have a peaceful way out than leave a crime scene that's going to traumatize everyone who has to attend to it. Suffering is suffering, whether it's cancer, or whatever is wrong with my brain.
Kingdomonsterdeath
I don't disagree. A diagnosis of depression shouldn't be an instantly fatal thing though. Just like cancer today isn't an instant fatal thing. We have made large strides in combating cancer. The survival rate is higher than it was even 10 years ago. Assisted death is very much a million shades of Grey when it comes to things like depression. It should be an option, but not the very first one I guess is what I am trying to say.
tollerscream
So grateful MAID exists. I am hopeful that it will exist for mental health soon as well. It's insane that those with mental illness have less autonomy than other citizens for no reason. The government is literally having to falsify data to prevent this instead of simply listening to the people who want it. I personally will not choose to use MAID, but I believe it should be people's right to choose, it's insane to me to tell people they're not suffering the RIGHT way to be able to choose to die.
candythesquirrel
There is a short and bittersweet game called "As long as you are here", devoted to rising awareness of Alzheimer's disease.
MajorNikon
If you can’t do whatever you want with your own bag of meat, you have no true freedom. Funny how the so-called freedum loving MAGA cunts haven’t figured that out yet.
Margrave9000
So true. The state must provide all the necessary expertise so that everything happens in a professional, dignified way. Goes for every kind of freedom, of course.
Alvatore
The state must also provide all the necessary assistance to ensure that all other options for relieving suffering have been exhausted before turning to euthanasia as an absolute last resort.
Margrave9000
Refusing requests on the groubds of 'you are not dying enough' is inhumane and leads go more suffering.
Alvatore
Allowing the government to turn to euthanasia as a first choice is just going to embolden some political sect to say "let's have disabled and poor people forced into it too" and work to make that happen. Is that humane to you? Legalized euthanasia is an impossibly dangerous thing under a capitalist government and must be strictly controlled.
Margrave9000
It works in Canada. Ever since 2021, Canadians are eligible for treatment without the requirement for a person’s natural death to be reasonably foreseeable. It's fine, lots of experts were involved.
https://web.archive.org/web/20260716005344/https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2021/03/new-medical-assistance-in-dying-legislation-becomes-law.html
todaytomorrowwillbeyesterday
Suicide is the largest decision a human can make. To marginalize it in any way is another travesty perpetrated upon those who choose it. I applaud her pragmatism & spit in your eye bravery. I also made a decision to go to Switzerland into one of their pods. I, like her, am not going to suffer the indignity of dying slowly to enrich another billionaires pockets keeping me plugged into their bank account. We are finite creatures. Make peace with that... GOP want's you in their matrix...
ATGoogles
As my late granny said, why should we deny ourselves the same comfortable and dignified ends we demand for our pets?
FrozenCoast
Religious nuts.
Feralkyn
I agree it should be available but I also understand some of the hesitation given how we as a species tend to take good things and then abuse them for material gain. One of the genuine fears is that the elderly might be pressured into it for economic reasons if and when it becomes widely accepted etc. Maybe still a silly fear but it isn't just religion
Alvatore
The problem with the things we ought to have, as usual, is capitalism. Capitalism turns everything to shit, to some kind of Lovecraftian torture mechanism, or both.
ChuckleVoodooist
I have this written in my will. I'm 36 and took the genetic test 6 years ago. My mother, her brother, and their mother and father all had and passed from early onset Alzheimer's. I have a mutation of the PSEN1 gene. I watched my mom go from a lovely and loud, strong, former Marine, to a bed bound person who didn't know how to swallow.
I watched her suffer from 13 to 34. I was her full time caregiver... And I don't ever want to put anyone in my family through that for me.
lightfoot2
Sucks, but it's nice to be able to go out on one's own terms. I just want to be doped up on opiates and tossed in dumpster.
NotSomoneElse68
Give me a shot if morphine every day and one of them give me a hot shot. I won't even know it happened.
hyptosis
I'm in the states :/ But I too think throw me in a dumpster!
NickRivieraMD
I feel the sentiment, or rather, unsentiment, but what a shit show for the sanitation workers that would be.
paeches
special human remains dumpsters for composting? maybe one that is set on fire at the end of the week? a drop box style a-la baby surrender - but it's at a lab, so they can use you for science?
Margrave9000
Let's just place self-operated, no questions asked cabins at every hospital and other high traffic areas! Malls, transit hubs, libraries... we should totally normalize accessible treatment!
NickRivieraMD
Big part of the rain we handle death as specifically as we do is germs. There would be a way to do it, but neither compost nor dumpster will work. A drop box that locks and immolates when closed? But it would get misused for murder.
FiftyShadesOfTiramisu
We don't let our pets suffer. If they could talk and tell us "life hurts so much, I don't want to wake up anymore", we'd be even more certain that we're doing the right thing. Only when it comes to other humans, our weird bronze age religions get in the way. Bit ironic seeing as they're death cults. But these death cults also worship suffering and want humans to endure pain and indignity for as long as possible. For that reason alone I oppose these perverse religions with every fiber of my being
RetrogradeLlama
Margrave9000
Yup. MAID is human rights, so any criticism can only be baseless, invalid and harmful - and any critic can only be an oppressor, a reactionary and a fascist.
Remember, kids, cruelty is the purpose. They want people to suffer.
DukeDarkwood
Control is the purpose. Cruelty is a job perk. (They still want people to suffer... it's just, it's a side bonus more than anything else.)
lifeisadadjoke
I know a few people that have chosen MAID. I'm glad that I have the option down the road after watching my grandmother suffer from Alzheimer's.
lainzis
My father is currently in late stages, totally lost himself, cant walk anymore or communicate. My uncle (his brother) is showing strong signs, and their mother (my grandmother) also died from it. My grandmother on my moms side also had it, so I am pretty sure I'm fucked.
There is zero chance that I will let it go as far as it has gone with my dad.
lifeisadadjoke
It's a dark way to spend one's last days.
thisisnotfineffs
Same, if my grandmother could see herself with clarity she would have chosen MAID years ago but doesn't have the capacity to make that decision anymore. Alzheimer's is one of the worst diseases
lifeisadadjoke
Agreed...it's horrible. Sorry you had to go through it as well.
thisisnotfineffs
Margrave9000
There's still hoping that activists and experts can find a way to offer the therapy to incapable patients - with all the necessary precautions, of course.
Therapy is therapy, no human shall be excluded.
nyarlathotep777
If you cannot end your own life, you do not own your own body. If you do not own your own body, you own nothing.
As far as those outside Canada having an issue with it, they need to mind their own fucking business. What we do here is none of their concern.
Margrave9000
Yup. No society should interfere in another one's internal affairs.
AllAnusMorissette
Shout out to @benedictcucumberpatch
we love and miss you
/gallery/prUy1Kt
TheFastpaws
Still sad.
dap6000
I remembered these posts but not the username. I often wonder how many people disappeared from Imgur over the years who didn’t have a chance to make a goodbye post. We can assume they just lost interest, and this place for sure is a pale imitation of its past self so plenty of that happens as well. But so do illnesses and accidents.
AllAnusMorissette
this guy for sure
/gallery/IEzBIqM
HillOfBeans
Thank you so much for this reminder. I’ve thought of her often but forgot the username. She is an inspiration to me and I’m really glad my home state has MAID. I’ll be using it when the time comes.
Ithoughtshesaidannul
Her story gutted me for a minute, I cried for this complete stranger after she said goodbye. Because what the fuck, this life is too short.
ThisGuyPostingThings
I am sorry for those who feel MAID is what is necessary in their life, but I'm glad that option is there for those who do. Will be sad to see Robert Munsch go, but glad he and Rebecca and others can go out on their terms.
doctorId
Just to be clear, right wingers take a "your body, my choice" approach to both sexual health and deciding when you die. They aren't opposed to MAID because they value the lives of the people dying, they're opposed to it because they're not in control of it.
Uberche
Plus it makes them feel guilty for voting for a party that literally votes to destroy the lives of the disabled and poor every single time... They want every one to suffer horribly and quietly so that they can feel good about being sociopathic selfish assholes...
Margrave9000
Yup. Any conservative 'opinion' is, by necessity, a fucking lie that shouldn't be taken seriously, ever.
SecretAgentSuperBooger
Right-wingers are often outraged until personally affected.
Margrave9000
Yup, only fascists oppose human rights, progress and minimizing suffering.
They want to make the world a worse space.
adj1000
My mother passed from early onset dementia, but I think she had a pact with my father that they made while lucid. She confused me for my father as I visited her in long term care. I was often asked in her more clear moments if now was the time and towards the end she asked me to just "do it now". It still haunts me to this day. I don't know the woman in this video, but she does look like she still has some good time ahead of her from my experience, but I don't question her right to choose.
Chupacabrabreath
I felt the same watching that brief clip, I thought she seemed pretty lucid.
turkizno
it's such a hard thing to judge for me personally. My grandma and I were always close. She was still lucid not long ago. 4 years later she is accusing everyone around me of trying to sabotage her and deliberately misplacing her essential medicine, not letting anyone into the house. it's insane how quick things turn from good to bad
Margrave9000
Doesn't matter, it's none of your business.
AgentKGB
My grandfather (on my dad's side) passed away with Alzheimer's. My father has started showing signs of dementia. I'll be honest, seeing people completely lose who they are and forget their spouse, kids, basic things, etc... seeing the light fade from their eyes... *shudder* I'd rather go painlessly in a deep sleep than live for 10+ years not knowing my damn name or what year it was.
todaytomorrowwillbeyesterday
Harumph!
pleaseuseotherdoor
My grandmother is 102, which is amazing. But she hasn't known who I am since she was 90.
canyouflyyousucker
Same here. My granddad died of Alzheimer's, and now my dad has dementia. I want to understand what role genetics plays in this whole lottery, but I've told my wife that if it ever happens to me, I'm going out Hemingway style.
TicoGuy
If it's Familial Alzheimer's (Early On-set) the risk is very high. There are some gene markers that can be detected through a simple swab DNA Test. The one you Don't want is APOE4 especially not 2 copies.
canyouflyyousucker
I'm too scared to take the test. The doctor wanted me to. I mean, WTF do I do if I even know?
MaximilianShade
I'm in your exact situation, and similarly uncertain about learning the outcome. Though if I did decide to learn ahead of time, it would mean that I could do what I could to spare my spouse's finances and to seek either 'early exit' or appropriate insurance for long term care.
canyouflyyousucker
I know there are studies and stuff, but with my luck I'd end up with the placebo, lol...
iktome99
My dad was developing Alzheimer's and developed ALS. I know it wasn't a painless death when is lungs could no longer keep up, but I feel it was better than living with Alzheimer's
Roqinn
My mom was diagnosed 3 years ago. I have noticed a marked decline already. She refuses anyone moving in with her or her moving in with anyone else. She wants to die in her house. She lives alone.
I would not wish this on anyone. Losing yourself and everyone you love, but youre still there. It is hear wrenching. I wish we had MAID here. I wonder if mom would use it?
B4r4B4d4B45tu
100%. Uncle died from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, grandmother is 95 and has dementia. I hate dementia for taking my sweet abuela from me.
JustSomePersonThere
I feel you.
Lachwen
My paternal grandfather died of Multiple System Atrophy, and now my dad has it as well. I've often said that the man who was my Grampa died several years earlier, it just took a long time for his body to catch up. It's so horrible to watch that happen to people you love. I hope my dad can hang on until Christmas so he can meet his grandchild, but after that a quick, painless end would be the best for everyone.
CaptainQuarkk
It's not too dissimilar to watching someone you've always known to be healthy to become suddenly severely ill and frail. Watched that happen in my dad who first experienced a negative reaction to a prescription and had grand-mal seizures, and now cancer.
It's hard to see them struggle and become somebody else, but at least they still remember their family.
cuckatruck
My mom died about 2 yrs ago with FTD and now that we know that, I know my grandmother did too looking back. We just didn't know what it was at the time. I'm so afraid myself, my sister or my kids will end up with it. I really hope if any of us have to get it that it me and not them. Because I've already decided I'm not going out that way after caring for mom and seeing what she went through. Fuck that, I'd rather eat a bullet if that's my fate.
AfterTheRainComesTheRainbow
My last grandparent is 100. She's only a few months from 101 and she has dementia. I doubt she even knows when we visit, when she isnt sleeping, at least.
hiyesthisissatan
I'd even rather go painfully that put my family through my decline.
yamsonyamsonyams
My dad is dying ive cancer and the chemo is erasing his brain snd destroying his body - it’s like he has aged 20 years in 2 months
And we have no option for a comfortable death. When my cat was dying of cancer, we gave him the mercy of a peaceful death. I cannot do thst for my father, and he can’t do it for himself.
Of course the gun laws here are loose so… there’s always *one* option there lol hell yeah America
yamsonyamsonyams
Dying of cancer
Fuck I swear typing on Imgur is more difficult somehow
LittleAzie
Which isn't even an option depending on state and/or life insurance stuff. No, we just need to make things better and disallow a vocal minority to continue writing our laws and cultural norms
Gremlynn4023
Reminds me of a song lyric. "I want to die in a car crash, maybe an airplane. I want to sleep in a house that's going up in flames, I don't want to hear the shot that ends the whole thing and I don't want to love so long that I forget your name."
JustSomePersonThere
Love this shit
GorillaPowers
The idea that we have to keep people alive no matter what is disgusting and abhorrent
custardandfishfingers24
It's also anti-religious. If there's an after-life, then we should welcome death.
GorillaPowers
Irrelevant consideration for me. Dont believe a word of it
GravyEducation
I always say, it's your life to take. Usually I'm discussing suicide (and I'm saying that as a distinction between medical assistance because there is a difference in my mind) with people who are mainly struggling with depression. But end of day no matter what the reason is, that's on you to make that decision and it should be provided by a professional and approached ethically. (That's my difference. Plain suicide is shooting yourself in your house. Medical assistance is a medical procedure.)
cyberninjaru
“You can only take your own life if I agree with the terms.” Get out of here. I don’t want anyone to commit suicide but if that’s their choice, it’s their choice. I’ve suffered with depression for 30 years and none of the 30+ meds I’ve tried have helped. Sometimes there just is no help. We didn’t choose to be born, we sure as hell can choose to die on our own terms.
GravyEducation
I like to use my experience with it to become a better mental health advocate. And part of that is recognizing.... yep. If that's your decision. I would prefer simply that you be sober and wait idk like three days before you make it final if it's gonna be medically assisted. That's just a precaution for the people who, in my life, have say gotten drunk and that's when they made the decision. Plus yknow it's not a suicide booth, you're gonna have to wait for the appointment anyway. Hugs my dude.
yepwatermelon
Nope nope nope. Euthanasia for mental illness is nothing short of a quiet genocide. This is a disgusting take.
yepwatermelon
Downvote me all you want, but manipulating institutional policy to make life with mental illness as unbearable as possible is purposeful. Offering the suicidal a "clean way out" is simply polite genocide. Think what you want, but you're sharing tables with Nazis as it were.
DonMc
I so enjoy watermelon pizza. It's where you slice a watermelon into big circles. Then add sliced grapes, sunflower and pumpkin seeds(both shelled), feta cheese(crumbled), blueberries and tajin(the spicy salty stuff). I'd also like to be able to shuffle off this mortal coil without having to make a mess my family would find. Your beliefs should never infringe on mine.
DonMc
You can punch your own ticket by drinking too much or eating too much. Or eating a bit of lead delivered at too high of a velocity. But God forbid you ask for a cocktail to put you to sleep forever. When pain becomes too unbearable there should be another option. Future pain included.
Margrave9000
Absolutely. Even the knowledge of being expised to the risk of future pain should warrant therapy.
It is nobody's business.
GravyEducation
Yep, it really is just the "people who are gonna do it are gonna find a way to do it." So why would we not put them through a medical process. Waiting periods to screen out the impulse people. And everyone passing that gets a peaceful go. I just honestly can't picture an argument against it that would hold water