Let's Agree to Be Burdens to One Another
Medically assisted dying may be the rare issue that traditional and progressive Christians can speak out against in unison.
Content warning: suicide, self-harm, mental illness.
When Paul Covrette learned in 2015 that he had lung cancer, he said, “I’m not going to have cancer. I’m going to kill myself.”
His wife assured him that he didn’t need to pursue suicide; “the government will do it for you, and they’ll do it for free.” Two years later, after his cancer had spread, Covrette asked extended family to gather at their home for a final meal before a doctor operating under Canada’s then-new Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law administered a series of injections that stopped Covrette’s heart.
His story came to represent a “good death” made possible by MAID. Covrette was facing an awful terminal illness, had the mental capacity to choose and understand that choice, and died surrounded by loved ones in his Prince Edward Island home. He clearly fit the constraints of the 2016 law: he was an adult patient who had a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” causing “intolerab…
