Woman seeking medically assisted death citing "abject poverty" gets outpouring of support

[Demovictory9]

Woman seeking medically assisted death after failing to secure affordable housing finds lifeline following outpouring of financial support

The Toronto woman — identified in the outlet's report by the pseudonym Denise — shared her story with the Canadian network earlier this month, describing the numerous chronic illnesses she lives with, including Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, which she said causes rashes, difficulty breathing, and hemiplegic migraines that can lead to temporary paralysis.

The illness means Denise is susceptible to anaphylactic shock and possibly fatal allergic attacks brought on by chemicals such as cigarette smoke, laundry fumes, and air fresheners. Dr. Riina Bray, one of Denise's physicians, told CTV earlier this year that Denise needed "immediate relocation for her safety." People living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities often start to improve in environments that are chemically cleaner, Bray said.

Denise also uses a wheelchair due to a previous spinal cord injury, the outlet reported.

For months, Denise and her friends fruitlessly searched for a wheelchair-accessible apartment with cleaner air that she could afford on her $1,169 monthly disability income.

With no options and diminishing hope, Denise began an application for medically assisted death in the summer of 2021, citing "abject poverty" as the primary factor. By the beginning of this month, two doctors had conditionally approved her application and her end-of-life documents were in the process of being finalized.

But since sharing her story, Denise said her life has "stabilized" following an outpouring of support from strangers around the world. Nearly 1,000 people have donated more than $65,000 to her GoFundMe campaign, she told CTV News last week. Denise is using the funds to afford a hotel room that uses low-scented cleaning chemicals and has fresh air from a nearby ravine that significantly lessens her pain.

"These are strangers saying they do not want this to happen. I am even struggling to find the words," she said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/woman-seeking-medically-assisted-death-after-failing-to-secure-affordable-housing-finds-lifeline-following-outpouring-of-financial-support/ar-AAXW2Zu

[North Shore Chicago]

1. How fucked up is this?!

Doctors "approved" her suicide by doctor, but for sometime no room for her at the 'clean air' Inn.

Humanity is less and less humane. Thanks to the folks who contributed to her.

[AntivaxHunters]

2. The system is so fucked

and poverty shouldn't exist.

[thucythucy]

3. This is why so many people in the disability rights movement oppose assisted suicide.

It's a cheap and easy way for society to deal with the "problem" of disability.

Rather than provide access, decent living conditions, and a place in the community, let's just encourage them all to off themselves.

It works for poor people too.

Check on the Not Dead Yet website for more on this issue.

https://notdeadyet.org/

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. This. I do believe MAID must be an option, but as it is now, within the system we have, it becomes

a solution for problems that should have other solutions come first.

[thucythucy]

5. At the very least we need truly universal health care

that everyone can afford, without all the absurd road blocks and complications that currently exist.

Otherwise we end up with cases like those reported in Oregon, where people choose to off themselves because they either can't afford treatment for their health issues, or they want to spare their families going bankrupt. In other words, the deciding issue for them isn't pain or "dignity" but rather financial. We are therefore literally putting a price tag on peoples' lives, a price many cannot afford.

As for "dignity"--this generally has to do with toileting, what disability rights advocate Mary Jane Owen called "the piss and shit factor." Spending decades in the movement, and thus knowing very many severely disabled people including by dear dear SO, I've seen how this can be handled so that it doesn't become the horror that so many non-disabled folk see it as. But unless you have access to the expertise and resources, it again becomes a problem that is "solved" by shunting people into "choosing" assisted suicide.

Not that I think suicide should be illegal or punished. It should remain a personal choice. But as you say, before offering it as the first and only solution, we should be looking at ways to solve these problems so that people who want to can continue with their lives as best they can.