MAiD is a Scissor
The following is the transcript of my closing editorial from episode 142 of my news podcast The Mind Killer. If you like it, please consider subscribing to the podcast
Scott Alexander introduced the idea of the “scissor statement” in his short story “Sort By Controversial.” The idea is that there exist some concepts that are so extraordinarily divisive that they have the potential to alter world history. The thing about these statements is that nearly everyone sees their position on them as blindingly obvious, a position that any decent person would have, but roughly half of the populace are diametrically opposed to the other half.
I don’t encounter too many of these out in the wild, but recently I’ve been seeing some commentary on Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying program, or “MAiD.” This is a program by which Canadian doctors will assist people in committing suicide. When it started it was limited to people whose death from disease was imminent, but was later expanded to include other people with incurable physical diseases experiencing an irreversible decline. In 2027, the practice is scheduled to expand to people whose only underlying condition is mental.
To me, this is obviously, without a doubt, a good thing. It is horrifying to me that a person would want to die with dignity and we wouldn’t allow it. The MAiD program has lots of safeguards, including a 90-day waiting period, to make sure people aren’t acting impulsively. But if some has an enduring, consistent wish to die, as much as I agree with Eneasz that death is bad, forcing people to live is worse. I read my friend Amanda’s review of Two Arms and Head and couldn’t believe anyone would think the state should try to prevent this guy from ending his life on his own terms.
And yet, when other people talk about it, they find it obviously, without a doubt, a travesty. They’re horrified that doctors, whose number one priority is “do no harm,” are using their medical knowledge not to save, but to kill. Most people recognize that it can be appropriate in certain circumstances, but are scandalized by statistics like - and I’m quoting a recent piece in the Atlantic:
As of 2023, the last year for which data are available, some 60,300 Canadians had been legally helped to their death by clinicians. In Quebec, more than 7 percent of all deaths are by euthanasia—the highest rate of any jurisdiction in the world.
I don’t know how to handle this. While I find it tragic that so many people want to end their lives, I don’t actually know how this compares to the unassisted suicide rate (and nobody does, because lots of suicides get classified as other things), and I would never respond to that by trying to deny people their chosen ending. But other people feel the exact opposite. They see these statistics and can’t believe that Canada is allowing it. The title of the Atlantic piece is “Canada is Killing Itself.”
What is the reconciliation here? I honestly have no idea. It seems intractable. If you have ideas, let me know