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The Unbearable Lightness of Death

By Zanna Linskaia


In our uncertain and turbulent time with so many tragedies and deaths, it’s hard to be shocked or surprised by anything. But the story of doctor Ellen Wiebe, clinical professor of UBC, is absolutely got stuck in my mind. She is well known to mass media for her interviews to National Post, CBC, and documentary on BBC, not counting end-less conferences and publications. 

Dr. Wiebe is one of the first in BC and Canada physicians of medical assisted dying. By her own testimony in front of parliament committee in 2022 she has killed more than 430 Canadians, providing “peaceful deaths”.  For her MAID (medical assistance in dying) is “incredible rewarding” work. She describes MAID as “heart-warming, liberating, the most important medicine, I do. I was surprised at how good I feel during this procedure to patients”. Watching Dr. Wiebe in BBC documentary, her cold eyes and satisfied smile on her face, I could not stop to think about Elsa Herich or “Elsa Kox”, sadistic Nazi Guard at Ravensbrück and Majdanek concentration camps, who had  killed there  hundreds of Jews.  

I wonder, what draws some providers, like Dr. Wiebe, to do such a controversial work? What happens to a person when killing others becomes a daily case? She does not use the word “euthanasia” - she calls it “assisted dying”. In documentary she was laughing as she describes how and when getting the final day: “The first injection is a sedative that puts people into a deep coma, then final injection stops the breathing and heart. Color of the face changed, but death is very calm and peaceful. The whole prosses for me is about 5 minutes”. She describes her work as the most fulfilling mission she has done. Dr.  Wiebe talked about her past when she learned from Dutch colleagues which drugs to use in what order, how to avoid prolonged time to death and how to organize the procedure day. She believes that patients have the right to die with dignity and have control of their lives.

To her satisfaction, Canada has a highest assisted death rate at 5.5% of all death.

People are being driven to MAID because of poverty, debt, lack of food or housing.

What began in BC, spreads to other provinces all over Canada. People are concerned

about the lack of eligible criteria for MAID and interpretation by doctors. Dr. Wiebe was accused several times of “bordering unethical behavior” by angry family members but won at the court. Other doctors oppose aggressive provision of MAID as a form of medical practice by providers like E. Wiebe. Death cannot be glorifying celebration of ending someone’s life. However, for E. Wiebe everyone has the right and privilege to die, not only people with terminal diseases or chronic pain, dementia and multiply sclerosis. The range of her patients are from old age to middle and even young. The last one was in her 20s with cancer. “The death itself was beautiful”, - explains doctor in documentary. She (patient) has a big party with her family, friends, flowers, food, poetry and opera music. It was an amazing event”! 

Dr. Wiebe hopes that MAID will be eligible soon for kids and teenagers, for advance requests like cases of disability or suicide conditions. Is she planning her own death by medical assistance? “I love life”, - she says. Even though she is disable by herself - at age 40 she suffered from heart disease and cannot walk. She uses a wheel-chair and electric scooter.  At 72 she is not going to quit her job - “Assisting dying is the best work I’ve ever done”. In addition to her MAID, she runs a medical abortion clinic in Vancouver for decades. Many of her patients after abortions could never have children. Dr. Wiebe says that she sees similarities between access to abortion and person’s right to assisted death. “Their choice over their own life and their own body”.

Her personal life is totally different from her proclamations - with her husband she has 5 sons and 7 grandchildren. What a hypocrisy! 

In the novel by Milan Kundera “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” the protagonist has sexual addiction to women - more of them he has, more ones he wants to have. The author contrasts philosophy of heaviness with understanding of life as light.

Dr. Ellen Wiebe has her own philosophy - the unbearable lightness of death - she performed over 800  MAID assessments. I call her “Canadian doctor Mengele”...

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