Paraplegic Canadian veteran says government caseworker offered her euthanasia trends now
A paraplegic veteran in Canada has spoken out slamming her government for offering her medically assisted suicide when she grew frustrated at delays in having a wheelchair lift installed in her home.
Retired Army Corporal Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian, testified in Canadian Parliament on Thursday that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker made the euthanasia offer.
After years of frustrating delays in getting the home lift, Gauthier says the caseworker told her: 'Madam, if you are really so desperate, we can give you medical assistance in dying now.'
It comes a week after Canada's veterans affairs minister confirmed that at least four other veterans were similarly offered euthanasia in response to their troubles, a situation Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called 'absolutely unacceptable'.
Army Veteran Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian, testified in Canadian Parliament on Thursday that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker offered her euthanasia after she expressed frustration about delays in installing a wheelchair lift at her home
Gauthier competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games and Prince Harry's 2016 Invictus Games (above) where she took gold in indoor rowing and heavyweight powerlifting
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Gauthier said that she has been seeking VAC assistance in getting a chairlift for her home since 2017.
'It has isolated me greatly, because I have to crawl down my butt with the wheelchair in front of me to be able to access my house,' she told Global News.
She said she was shocked by the offer of suicide from the caseworker, which came in a conversation in 2019.
'I was like, 'I can't believe that you will … give me an injection to help me die, but you will not give me the tools I need to help me live,'' she said. 'It was really shocking to hear that kind of comment.'
Gauthier was injured in an Army training accident in 1989, suffering permanent damage to her knees and her spine.
She competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games and Prince Harry's 2016 Invictus Games as a canoeist, power-lifter, and indoor rower.
Gauthier's testimony, and reports of other similar cases, have drawn public outcry, and Trudeau vowed to make changes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the case 'absolutely unacceptable' and vowed to make changes after at least five veterans were offered medically assisted suicide by the VAC
'I have said repeatedly that this is absolutely unacceptable, and as soon as we heard about this we took action,' Trudeau said in Vancouver on Friday.
'We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying,' he said.
Medically assisted suicide was first legalized in Canada for terminally ill patients in 2016, but last year, the law expanded to offer euthanasia to patients whose natural death is not believed to be imminent.
Now, people with long-term disabilities can also receive medical assistance in dying. Last year more than 10,000 people in Canada died by
