A class action lawsuit against the feds will soon be issued for offering Canadian veterans MAiD instead of proper treatment for their medical issues. This was confirmed by the Daily Mail after it spoke with one Alberta lawyer, Catherine Christensen, who represents multiple veterans who were offered MAiD.Christensen says she is working on the lawsuit against the government."You've got physically healthy young men asking for help, and the help offered is death," Christensen states.This announcement comes in light of another recent story of a veteran, David Baltzer, a physically healthy Manitoba man in his 30s, who was offered euthanasia by a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker..Baltzer is a former soldier who served two tours in Afghanistan, and had been receiving psychological treatment for PTSD and suicidal thoughts.He relied on veterans' benefits to make ends meet as he had struggled to reintegrate into civilian life, so he was shocked when he received a letter which informing him those same benefits were being cut off.That's when Baltzer decided he should call VAC and ask what was going on.On the phone with a caseworker, he was advised to end the call and was provided with an alternate number to call..The caseworker on the new line reviewed his file, and then suggested Baltzer consider another option."He looked at my file and said, 'I can see the therapy you've done. It doesn't seem like much has helped. I'd like you to keep an open mind and think about this,'" Baltzer stated to the Daily Mail."Have you ever given any thought to medical assistance in dying?" the caseworker asked him.The Daily Mail says it received multiple testimonies of veterans who stated they had been offered euthanasia due to their mental health struggles and disabilities..Some said they felt "disposable" and "abandoned" by the country they served for years, as one claimed a nurse had "bragged" to him about how many people they had euthanised.Another claimed it was easier to access marijuana than medical equipment — arguing Canada is washing its hands of its servicemen.For Baltzer the suggestion of assisted suicide came at a particularly vulnerable point in his life when he was having a hard time adjusting to normal life again, and had been assigned multiple therapists through VAC."To me, [the suggestion of MAID] was a confirmation of, 'Oh, my life is worthless,'" Baltzer stated..He adds that the conversation, which occurred in 2019, sent him into a downward spiral."The last six years have been a gong show. I went off the rails pretty hard. I ruined a lot of stuff in my life. I just burned it all to the ground."The suggestion that his life was not worth living, by those meant to help him, took a severe toll on his self-worth."[After the call,] I started questioning my value." ."I had a really bad attitude and was engaging in anti-social behaviour. Not even thinking about consequences, but thinking about things in the moment and just doing them."After this, Baltzer's behaviour escalated in its destructiveness, and he abused alcohol and other substances.Eventually, Baltzer made an appeal to have his veterans' benefits reinstated, even bringing up the MAiD suggestion with a pension advocate."I said, 'You didn't help me at all, and in fact, you offered me medically assisted suicide.' And it just went blank. No one said anything. It just got swept under the rug.".The experience left him feeling betrayed by an institution he had once been proud to be a part of."I was a stand-up, moral, law-abiding citizen and prided myself on that for a very long time. And then I realised all I'm doing is fighting the system constantly after I honourably served them."Baltzer describes the horrors he experienced in Afghanistan and the violence he experienced."You'd see the vehicle in front of you get blown up, see how much of the road it took out, and then you're picking up body parts off the ground. Or mush, or whatever was left."."Being in for as long as I was, you kind of forget who you were before. You forget the things that you enjoyed."He says that, though he's proud of his military achievements, but the way he was treated by the country he served has left a bad taste in his mouth."After everything that's been done, if I could go back in time, I wouldn't have served Canada," Baltzer stated.Baltzer wasn't the only veteran with similar feelings toward Canada..Tony Jenkins, 52, from Nova Scotia, served in the military on and off for almost two and a half decades as a weapons technician and has been offered MAiD twice.Jenkins stated that serving his country was "the worst decision of my life."In 2015, Jenkins suffered a brain injury after being struck on the back of the head by an antenna attached to an armoured vehicle.Afterwards, he began experiencing chronic migraines, slurred speech, and severe nerve damage, leaving him in debilitating pain in his arms and shoulders. .The military repeatedly dismissed his condition, with one superior telling him he was "full of s***" when he raised concerns about his injury.Two years after the accident, he visited a military doctor in distress after losing feeling in his arms.Rather than addressing his physical symptoms, the doctor immediately asked whether he was suicidal."I was shocked. I'm like, no, I've never been suicidal. She kept saying, you know, 'Are you sure? Are you sure you're not suicidal?' She's like, 'Well, if you are, I can help you.'".Jenkins explained to the doctor he was already seeing a psychologist but says the doctor repeated the question and offer.He came to understand that she was implying she could assess him for MAiD.Jenkins left the military in January 2022 and at the time he was receiving prescription medication for his migraines.But after leaving the armed forces, he discovered that his repeat prescription had been sent to another pharmacy in a different town..Unable to access his medication, he was suffering from a debilitating migraine that lasted nine days."I was sitting on a toilet with a bucket between my legs for nine days. When I wasn't doing that, I was lying on the floor in the basement because I just needed something cold and dark," he said."I lost 14 pounds in nine days from being sick."He tried and failed to obtain a replacement supply of medication from a nearby walk-in clinic and hospital.Eventually he called 811, Nova Scotia's health advice line, to speak to a nurse..Desperate and in excruciating pain, Jenkins asked for MAiD.He says he was then transferred to another line, where another nurse immediately discussed arranging an appointment, without exploring other options for treating his condition."She said, 'When you're ready, you call this number again, and we just book the slot, and that's it.'""It was two phone calls, and then you could book a death appointment," Jenkins said."It was as easy as ordering a pizza.".Jenkins claimed the procedure could be arranged in days and said the nurse had bragged about having carried out over 400 of the procedures."She was very nonchalant, as if she was discussing a dentist appointment," he stated.After speaking with his wife, Jenkins decided MAiD wasn't what he wanted, and after his distress subsided, he began to realize he shouldn't have been offered MAiD to begin with."When I realized it was so easy, literally two phone calls, and you could be killed the next day, I thought to myself, this isn't right.".What's more, he went to his local pharmacy the next day with the empty box for his prescription and asked if they could refill it, and they immediately agreed."It was as simple as that. If they just would have told me, 'Take your empty box of medication and go to the pharmacy and get a refill.' That's all they had to say. But nobody offered that to me. Nobody."Both Jenkins and Baltzer have stated they want to leave Canada for good now."We're not worth anything to these people," Jenkins stated. "I often say that I wasted my life serving my country, because they always say you're one big family. You're one big family until something happens to you.".Lawyer Christensen says, after representing many veteran clients over the years, she knows there are many more veterans who have been offered MAiD but are afraid to speak publicly about it.In 2023, after an internal investigation into allegations that Veterans Affairs Canada employees had inappropriately raised MAiD to veterans, the department confirmed four incidents involving a single caseworker.VAC confirmed the incidents were isolated and confined to the single caseworker.The employee was discharged and VAC issued instructions to frontline staff making clear that they must not provide advice or suggestions about MAiD..But Christensen says the problem is still persisting, as she is representing a veteran who was allegedly offered MAiD as recently the spring of this year."The issue with MAID being offered to veterans is that veterans are an extremely vulnerable group," Christensen stated."They're trained for the mission, and then themselves. When they're struggling, they think about their family and their mission to take care of their family.""You plant that idea in a veteran's head, and all of a sudden they're thinking that sacrificing themselves is for the betterment of their family.".In a statement, VAC claimed MAiD is not a service it provides and that employees have "no role or mandate to recommend or raise it."It added that staff are explicitly instructed not to raise or recommend MAiD "under any circumstances."If you have any personal stories you'd like to share regarding MAiD, please email lmushet@westernstandard.news.
