September 3, 2024

Dear Friends:

I am celebrating 25 years as Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC). EPC was founded in 1998; I began working full time in 1999.

Our work is more important than ever before. We are directly involved with helping people. We are preparing to intervene in two euthanasia lobby court cases in Canada. The first is designed to extend euthanasia to people with mental illness alone and the second is to force every healthcare facility, even religiously affiliated facilities, to provide euthanasia. We need your continued financial assistance. Please consider a special donation as I celebrate 25 years of protecting people from euthanasia and assisted suicide (donate at this link).

The court case that is designed to force the government to permit euthanasia for mental illness was launched because the Conservatives promised not to permit euthanasia for mental illness alone and the polls indicate that they will likely win the next election. Since the case is designed to go to the Supreme Court, it is important that our arguments are made at the lower court so those arguments can also be made at the Supreme Court.

The study by Chelsea Roff and Catherine Cook-Cottone, “Assisted death in eating disorders: a systematic review of cases and clinical rationales” that was published on July 30, 2024, is very important. Dr Mark Komrad, a psychiatrist, called this study, “one of the most important and frankly landmark studies regarding assisted suicide and euthanasia.” Chelsea contacted EPC while researching the topic and we interviewed her on August 9 (watch the recording here). Euthanasia for eating disorders is closely related to euthanasia for mental illness.

Another important research article by Christopher Lyon titled, “Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying System Can Enable Healthcare Serial Killing” was published on August 2, 2024. Lyon examines Canada’s euthanasia law and concludes that the language of the law is not designed to prevent healthcare serial killers. Lyon compares the attributes of serial killers to the stories of euthanasia deaths and statements by some of Canada’s leading euthanasia doctors.

In the next few months, I will be speaking in Washington, DC, London, UK, Birmingham, UK, Glasgow, Scotland, and in several places in Canada: Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Windsor, and elsewhere. Thank you for enabling me to do this work.

In this month’s mailing, we are including a donation card for my half-marathon in support of Compassionate Community Care (CCC). You can sponsor me through CCC’s website at this link, adding a note that your donation is for my run.

Your support is more important than ever before. Your donation enables us to intervene in these legal cases and to help people in their time of need. A special donation in honour of 25 years of service would be very kind.

Thank you for all the ways you support our work. 

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director