Earlier this year, in September, a Canadian man went public with his struggles relating to disability and poverty, telling the world it has become so hard, he is considering Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). Though he admitted he has no desire to die, his desperation led him to feel like he had no other choice — and now, at least one doctor has signed off on his request for assisted suicide.
Les Landry previously explained that he is potentially facing homelessness. When he turned 65, his disability benefits ended, and he was instead pushed into senior benefits. His expenses massively increased, while fewer of his necessities were covered.
According to the Daily Mail, at least one doctor has now approved his request. He now needs just one more doctor’s approval to undergo assisted suicide.
“MAID is when the pain of living is more than the fear of death,” Landry said. “How do you shut out the switch to both emotional and physical pain in poverty?” In his application, Landry’s desperation was made explicitly clear. “This is for myself,” he wrote. “I turned 65 on May 2nd and lost all [my] disabilities benefits and now a senior in poverty. I am not going to live my life like this.”
In his interview with the Daily Mail, he called the application process “bizarre.”
“In a matter of days I got a response saying… now we’re going to move on to the next step,” he said. “They told me to expect a phone call from a doctor. And he came to my house.”
Landry then pointed out that doctors won’t do home visits for health care, but “they’re willing to do a house call to kill you.”
It’s important to understand that the doctors appointed to assess someone’s qualifications for MAiD are not the person’s personal physician.
Landry also said he was honest with the assessors, and didn’t lie to get his assisted suicide application approved.
“I told it to the doctor, I want to live. I don’t want to die,” he said. “I’ve been very honest with it to the whole process. I haven’t lied or hidden anything. I said, ‘I am on the fence here,’ I said, but one of the main factors is because of the poverty. And I explained that when I was on AISH that poverty wasn’t an issue I knew I could budget. I knew what I was allowed. I knew what was covered. I said, now everything’s up in the air, and it’s the unknown. I am not considered a person with a disability, yet I have a disability.”
Landry is not alone in the way poverty has affected his view on his life. Amir Farsoud, a Canadian man facing homelessness, received an outpouring of public support after it came to light that he was considering euthanasia despite not being terminally ill. When crowdfunding raised more than $60,000 for him, and others offered help and counsel, Farsoud changed his mind and decided not to seek death.
Landry has reportedly already seen a second doctor, who is “undecided” about signing off on the request for assisted suicide. And the first doctor encouraged Landry to simply find another doctor if the request is denied. “I said, ‘I don’t want to live like this and poverty is not helping. Either I’m approved or I’m not approved, give me an answer, because without the answer, I can’t really go and shop for another doctor,” he said. “I asked the first doctor, ‘well what if a doctor doesn’t approve me?’ He said well they just find another one. I said okay, I said so you can go shopping? He says yep.”
Canada, Landry said, has made it easier for people with disabilities to die than to live, and he hopes stories like his serve as a wake-up call.
“I think given the stories that are coming out, it would be very disappointing if we didn’t pause and take some time for reflection and discussion about the pace at which MAID is being expanded,” Landry said. “At the very least, if we are going to make MAID more accessible for people to die well, we must create a society where people can access the social supports they need to live well, too.”
