On this our U.S. Veterans Day, I bring this horrible story about how Canadian war veterans are being encouraged to be killed by their own health care system when suffering from war injuries. This is rather lengthy even though I have edited it some. I think it is important to read all of the stories presented. They may be the tip of the iceberg.
from the Daily Mail,
It was two days before Christmas when David Baltzer, a physically healthy man in his 30s, was offered medically assisted death by a Veterans Affairs Canada caseworker.
A former soldier who had served two tours in Afghanistan, Baltzer had been receiving psychological treatment for PTSD and suicidal thoughts.
He relied on veterans' benefits to survive after struggling to reintegrate into civilian life, so he was shocked when he received a letter informing him that his benefits had been cut.
Upset and looking for answers, he called Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
But rather than receiving the help he was seeking, Baltzer claims the caseworker instructed him to end the call and provided him with a different number to contact.
During that subsequent conversation, he says the caseworker reviewed his file and suggested he consider another option.
'He looked at my file and said, "I can see the therapy you've done. It doesn't seem like much has helped. I'd like you to keep an open mind and think about this."'
'"Have you ever given any thought to medical assistance in dying?"'
For Baltzer, the call came at a particularly vulnerable point. He was already struggling to adjust to civilian life, had been experiencing difficulties in his relationship and had been assigned several different therapists through Veterans Affairs.
Speaking to the Daily Mail from his home in Manitoba, he said: 'To me, [the suggestion of MAID] was a confirmation of, 'Oh, my life is worthless'.'
He says the 2019 conversation became a turning point, sending him into a downward spiral...
...Eventually, as part of an appeal to have his veterans' benefits reinstated, Baltzer raised the issue of the MAID suggestion with a pension advocate, but says nothing came of it.
'I said, "You didn't help me at all, and in fact, you offered me medically-assisted suicide." And it just went blank. No one said anything. It just got swept under the rug.'
His is not the only case...
The Daily Mail also spoke to Catherine Christensen, a lawyer representing several veterans who were offered medical assistance in dying (MAID) and is working on a proposed class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government.
'You've got physically healthy young men asking for help, and the help offered is death,' she said.
Tony Jenkins, 52, from Nova Scotia, served in the military on and off for almost two-and-a-half decades as a weapons technician, and was offered MAID twice.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said serving his country was 'the worst decision of my life'.
In 2015, Jenkins suffered a devastating brain injury after being struck on the head by an antenna attached to an armoured vehicle.
In the years that followed, he developed chronic migraines, slurred speech and severe nerve damage, which left him with debilitating pain in his arms and shoulders.
He says the military repeatedly dismissed his condition, with one superior telling him he was 'full of s***' when he raised concerns about his brain injury.
Around two years after the accident, he visited a military doctor in distress after losing feeling in his arms. But rather than addressing his physical symptoms, he says she immediately asked whether he was suicidal.
'I was shocked. I'm like, no, I've never been suicidal. She kept saying, you know, "Are you sure? Are you sure you're not suicidal?" She's like, "Well, if you are, I can help you".'
Jenkins explained that he was already seeing a psychologist, but says the doctor repeated the question and offer. He came to understand that she was implying she could help him access medically assisted dying.
Jenkins left the military in January 2022. At the time, he was taking prescription medication to control his migraines, but after leaving the Armed Forces, he discovered that his repeat prescription had been sent to a pharmacy in another town.
Unable to access his medication, he was left suffering a debilitating migraine that lasted nine days.
'I was sitting on a toilet with a bucket between my legs for nine days. When I wasn't doing that, I was lying on the floor in the basement because I just needed something cold and dark,' he said, 'I lost 14 pounds in nine days from being sick.'
He tried unsuccessfully to obtain a replacement supply of medication from a nearby walk-in clinic and another hospital. Eventually, he called 811, Nova Scotia's health advice line, to speak to a nurse.
Desperate and in excruciating pain, Jenkins asked about MAID. He says he was promptly transferred to another line, where a second nurse immediately discussed arranging an appointment, without first exploring other options for treating his condition.
'She said, "When you're ready, you call this number again, and we just book the slot, and that's it".'
'It was two phone calls, and then you could book a death appointment,' he said, 'It was as easy as ordering a pizza.'
Jenkins claimed he was told the procedure could be arranged within days, and said the nurse bragged about having carried out more than 400 such procedures.
'She was very nonchalant, as if she was discussing a dentist appointment,' he said.
After speaking to his wife, Jenkins decided that MAID was not the route he wanted to take.
And as the immediate distress subsided, he says he began to realise just how shocking it was that assisted dying had been presented to him as an option.
'When I realized it was so easy, literally two phone calls, and you could be killed the next day, I thought to myself, this isn't right,' he said.
What made the experience even more disturbing was when he went to the local pharmacy the following day with his empty box of medication to see if they could help. The pharmacist immediately agreed to refill his prescription.
'It was as simple as that. If they just would have told me, "Take your empty box of medication and go to the pharmacy and get a refill." That's all they had to say. But nobody offered that to me. Nobody.'
Both Baltzer and Jenkins have said they want to leave Canada for good now.
This is how veterans are treated in a system that many Americans want us to copy.
Lawyer Christensen is currently representing several men who are suing the Canadian government for offering them MAID.
One of these men is Corben McGown. The veteran is 26 now, but was offered euthanasia at just 22 years of age.
Speaking to the Daily Mail from Newbrunswick, he recounted: 'I was going through a pretty bad period mentally. I just wasn't doing well at the time, and I reached out to Veterans Affairs Canada [VAC] for help. I needed some support. I really didn't know what I was doing.'
McGown was at the time struggling with PTSD, depression, anxiety and had attempted to take his life several times.
VAC had given him therapy, but the young man said he found the process dehumanising and difficult.
'Some therapists made me feel as though I was just a paycheck to them. Others couldn't even remember our previous sessions. It didn't feel like I mattered to them.'
He had been in therapy for a year and a half before he was abruptly offered MAID.
During a phone call with a caseworker, in which McGown was speaking about his mental health struggles, one of the first options he says he was given was euthanasia.
'It was brought up almost as though I qualified for it. They knew about my situation at the time because I had been quite open about my suicidal thoughts.
'When she brought it up, it was essentially presented as: "You qualify for it".'
McGown, who was accompanied by his wife during the phone call, said he turned to her in shock after hearing the offer.
'I was stunned. It was a lot to take in. I was looking for help – not to die,' he said...
Big brother government's response: Deny, deny, cover up.
...However, the Canadian government has denied that MAID was ever discussed with McGown, maintaining that the phone call in question concerned his benefits and potential mental health treatment.
It also says it has no records of any call corresponding to his allegations.
Christensen, who has represented numerous veterans over the years, says the apparent disappearance of records is a chronic problem within Veterans Affairs and the Canadian Armed Forces.
'When we ask for records, there are gaps. It's a very common thing,' she said.
'With Corben's call, they said it never happened. So we produced his phone records as evidence, because he had called them.'
In another case,
Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian and veteran from Quebec, was offered MAID when she requested a wheelchair lift for her flat.
Gauthier became disabled after suffering an injury during military training in 1998, but went on to serve for over a decade as an artilleryman, with deployments to Israel and Cyprus.
Over the past three decades, her condition has deteriorated to the point that she is now wheelchair-bound and relies on government benefits and medical equipment to maintain her mobility.
Speaking to me from her home in Montreal, she said it took five years of petitioning to get a wheelchair lift installed in her home.
'Throughout those five years, the Veterans Affairs agent supposedly handling my case would call every few months and tell me things were about to be sorted out.
'Each time, I hoped that this would finally be the call when something happened.
'In the meantime, I had to crawl up and down eight steps, holding and dragging my wheelchair behind me, just to get into my house.
'Then, one day, during one of those calls, I told him: "I really can't keep going on like this. This is ridiculous. I keep injuring myself. I just can't take it anymore".'
'And [the caseworker] blurted out: "Well, if you really feel you can't keep going on like this and you can't take it anymore, you know you have the right to die".'
Gauthier says the caseworker went on to explain that she had the right to medical assistance in dying because it had recently become available.
'I was shocked. I said, "I can't believe you're telling me I have the right to die, but you're not going to give me the equipment I need to live".'
Gauthier says the incident was the final straw after decades of what she describes as inadequate care from Veterans Affairs.
She says she has repeatedly had to fight for basic necessities, including incontinence pads, while being offered unlimited medical marijuana – which she believes was intended to keep her complacent.
'They called me to tell me I had reached the limit of the diapers I needed in a month. I mean, how low can you make someone feel as a human being?'
These vets could be our vets if things proceed along the current path in the U.S. toward socialized medicine and physician assisted suicide.
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