How Assisted Death Became a Normalized Medical Pathway — And Why This Expansion Reveals a Cultural, Demographic, and Moral Fault Line
An Editorial Analysis from The Craig Bushon Show Media Team
Modern governments have mastered the art of softening hard realities with soft language. They no longer say “assisted suicide.” They say “MAID.” They no longer say “killing.” They say “choice,” “autonomy,” and “dignity.” Through medical vocabulary and legal framing, the West has turned intentional life-ending into a clinical service — something sanitized, regulated, and increasingly normalized.
But behind the branding is a transformation unfolding across Western democracies. Assisted death is no longer a rare exception. It is becoming an established medical pathway. And no country illustrates this more starkly than Canada — a nation that, in less than a decade, expanded MAID further and faster than any comparable society.
Understanding where we are requires understanding how we got here. And the road begins not in Canada, nor Europe, but in a Michigan man’s van with a homemade death machine — and a doctor named Jack Kevorkian.
Kevorkian Was Condemned. The Western World Later Adopted His Vision.
In the 1990s, Jack Kevorkian pushed America into a national confrontation over assisted suicide. He constructed his own euthanasia devices, filmed his procedures, and insisted the government should regulate and normalize physician-assisted death. America rejected him, prosecuted him, and imprisoned him for second-degree murder.
But the irony of history is that Kevorkian wasn’t warning against government involvement — he wanted government regulation. He advocated for professionalized “obitoriums” where medically supervised death could be delivered cleanly and openly.
Back then, the idea was unthinkable.
By the 2020s, the white Western world built exactly what Kevorkian imagined.
What was criminal in Kevorkian’s van has become a regulated medical act in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and portions of Australia and the United States.
The fringe became formal.
The taboo became policy.
The underground became a government program.
Canada: The Most Rapid Expansion of Assisted Death in Modern History
Canada legalized MAID in 2016 under strict conditions: terminal illness, foreseeable death, unbearable suffering. Within five years, those limits dissolved. By 2021, death no longer needed to be foreseeable. By 2023, MAID accounted for nearly 5% of all Canadian deaths — a figure unheard of in any other G7 nation.
2023 Health Canada report:
• 15,343 MAID deaths
• 19,660 requests
• ~4.7% of national mortality
Late 2025 provincial aggregation:
• Estimated ~16,500 MAID deaths nationwide
• Roughly 5% of all deaths in Canada
• Growth slowing to 8% year over year, but still rising
• British Columbia: 3,000+ deaths
• Ontario: ~5,100 in the first half of 2025
These are not niche numbers. They place MAID among the major causes of death in the country.
And yet, it’s essential to be accurate:
~95% of MAID cases still involve severe, advanced, late-stage physical illness — cancer, ALS, organ failure, degenerative neurological disease. This is not a system dominated by the controversial edge cases.
But the fringe cases — the ones that involve poverty, disability gaps, housing insecurity, long-term suffering, or failed support systems — are the ones that expose the fault line. They are few, but they are real:
• A woman seeking MAID because she couldn’t secure accessible housing.
• A man applying for MAID to avoid homelessness.
• A chronically ill woman driven by poverty and social isolation.
• A veteran offered MAID by a government employee improperly, instead of treatment.
These cases do not define the system. But they warn what the system can become when life support structures fail.
2024–2025 Global Trends: Expansion Driven More by Demographics Than Law
The rise of assisted dying is not Canadian alone. Across the white Western world, the trend is unmistakable.
Netherlands (2024):
• 9,958 euthanasia deaths
• 5.8% of all deaths
• Psychiatric cases rose 60%, to 219
• Oversight boards urged caution for youth
• Still, ~90% involve severe, end-stage physical illness
Belgium (2024 preliminary):
• ~3,900 euthanasia deaths
• ~3% of all deaths
• Non-terminal cases rose to ~932 (+31%)
• Psychiatric and neuropsychiatric cases remain small, but symbolically significant
Crucially, numbers continue to rise, but the growth rate is slowing.
The primary driver is now aging demographics, not policy expansion.
Every country that legalized assisted death has seen steady increases.
None have reversed course.
None have legislated rollbacks.
The slope is gradual — but consistently downhill.
Oversight Findings: What Safeguards Actually Show
Health Canada, the Dutch RTE, and Belgium’s Federal Commission all report:
• No evidence of systemic coercion
• High compliance with eligibility rules
• Most cases match the original intent of the laws
But oversight bodies also acknowledge what is outside their jurisdiction:
• Poverty is not measured
• Housing insecurity is not evaluated
• Lack of disability support is not categorized as coercion
• Social abandonment is not tracked as a causal factor
The controversy doesn’t stem from what oversight finds.
It stems from what oversight doesn’t measure.
Public Opinion: Support for MAID Is Strong — But Not Unlimited
Canadians have one of the highest approval rates for assisted dying in the world:
• 85% support MAID for terminal physical suffering
• Support drops to ~40% for psychiatric-only MAID
• Support collapses when MAID intersects with poverty, disability gaps, or housing failures
• 80% of psychiatrists in 2024 say the country is not prepared for mental-illness-only MAID set for 2027
The public does not want MAID used as a substitute for broken systems.
Their support is broad — but not unbounded.
Patient Agency: Empowerment for Many, Abandonment for Some
In fairness, it must be acknowledged: many MAID recipients and families report high satisfaction. They describe MAID as empowering, dignifying, and humane — especially in terminal decline.
• High levels of patient-reported peace
• Family satisfaction with the process
• Strong sense of control in the face of irreversible illness
This reality matters.
It explains the deep support MAID enjoys in Canada and parts of Europe.
But it coexists with a second reality:
A meaningful minority pursue MAID because systems failed them — not because biology did.
When life becomes impossible, unsupported, or unaffordable, MAID becomes something different.
It becomes an answer to suffering society has not addressed.
A Biblical Lens: One Source Among Many in a Secular West
It would be inaccurate to claim the modern West operates primarily from Scripture. Canada’s 2021 Census shows nearly 70% identify as non-religious or non-practicing, and much of Western Europe is similarly secular. Modern ethics draw from Enlightenment thought — Locke, Kant, Mill — as much as from Judeo-Christian tradition.
Yet it is also undeniable that concepts of inherent human dignity, the sanctity of life, and the moral worth of the vulnerable are historically rooted in the West’s biblical inheritance. The modern West is a hybrid — secular in practice, but still shaped by echoes of this older moral structure.
That is why the biblical argument still matters in public debate — not because everyone accepts it, but because it remains one of the foundational moral languages of Western civilization.
Scripture asserts that God — not the individual, not the physician, not the state — holds authority over life and death: “It is I who put to death and I who give life” (Deuteronomy 32:39). It declares that every human being bears God’s image (Genesis 1:27), including the elderly, disabled, and suffering — people some modern systems risk viewing as burdens.
The commandment “You shall not murder” includes intentional self-killing outside God’s authority, and every suicide in Scripture is portrayed as tragedy, not virtue. At the same time, Scripture commands presence with the suffering — patience, compassion, communal support — rather than elimination of the sufferer.
In a secular age, this framework does not dictate public policy.
But it offers a moral counterweight to the modern emphasis on autonomy.
And it raises a timeless question:
Does suffering justify ending life, or obligate society to respond with deeper care?
This is the moral tension at the heart of Western assisted-death debates — a clash of two legacies: secular autonomy and the older biblical claim that life has sacred value.
Why Americans Must Watch Closely
U.S. states adopting assisted-dying laws mirror Western trends:
white-majority, secular-leaning, autonomy-centered cultures, with legislative language echoing Canada and Europe.
But America’s healthcare inequities make it uniquely vulnerable.
Where Canada’s system fails people at the margins, America fails millions at the center.
The American MAID debate won’t be about whether to adopt the policy.
It will be about whether systems can protect the vulnerable — or whether assisted death becomes a tempting answer to suffering left untreated.
Where This Ultimately Leads
The majority of MAID cases today still reflect the original promise: terminal illness, unbearable decline, end-of-life suffering.
But the minority of outlier cases reveal society’s fault lines — places where the suffering is not purely medical but social, economic, or existential.
And that raises the final question:
When a society begins to offer death as a solution to the problems it has failed to solve in life, what does that say about the society?
Kevorkian once stood alone.
Now entire nations stand where he stood — with better lighting, formal procedures, and government oversight, but the same essential choice:
Do we relieve suffering by eliminating the sufferer,
or by serving them?
Disclaimer
This investigative op-ed reflects the analysis, opinions, and editorial perspective of The Craig Bushon Show. It is not intended to provide medical, psychological, legal, or ethical advice. Readers should not interpret the content as guidance for medical decision-making, end-of-life choices, mental health treatment, or any form of assisted death.
Nothing in this chapter should be taken as encouragement, endorsement, or suggestion for self-harm or harm to others. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of self-harm, suicide, or emotional distress, seek immediate assistance from a licensed medical professional, mental health provider, crisis hotline, or trusted community resource.
All references to public policies, historical events, legal frameworks, and documented cases are presented for investigative and informational purposes. Opinions expressed herein are based on publicly available data at the time of writing. Individual circumstances vary, and readers are encouraged to consult qualified experts for personal or professional guidance.
