Thank you for your question.
My claim is based on how, over many years, ever since these jurisdictions started decriminalizing this, they have basically looked at all the individual cases that were ever reported in those countries and tried to find out what categories of patients were asking for this.
When we talk about vulnerable people, who typically would come to mind? We would think that it might be people who might have trouble accessing health care, for instance, or people who have trouble accessing palliative care because they can't afford it. There are any number of reasons. The reality is that in virtually of these jurisdictions, the vast majority of patients asking for medical aid in dying are in fact late-stage cancer patients. While there is a bit of a fluctuation, these figures are fairly stable. It's the overwhelming majority.
For instance, if there were a serious danger to people with mental illnesses who received medical aid in dying, you would expect that after this having occurred for many years, the numbers would explode at some point. If you are concerned about the abuse claim, you would see that in one year year there were maybe 10 people, then there were 20 people, and then suddenly there were hundreds and thousands, and this is how they get rid of people with mental illnesses. This of course is not what's happening. What is actually happening is that in all of these jurisdictions, including the Netherlands and Belgium, the overwhelming majority of these kinds of patients asking for medical aid in dying actually have their requests rejected. To me, that's a really strong indication that protections are in place precisely for these kinds of vulnerable patients, and I'm glad they exist.
Do not get me wrong. I appreciate completely your concern. I'm just saying that when you look at the evidence, beyond anecdotes there is nothing to support these claims, and yes, I'll stick to that.