Well, my hometown of Belleville has been in the news again. Don’t worry, this time has nothing to do with serial killers, drug overdoses, violent crime, or homelessness. Although, there was an incident involving a shooter and a Jewish synagogue last week…but we’ll let that one fly under the radar for now. The issue I’d like to raise instead actually took place at a nursing home my sister used to work at.
A nursing home where an 83-year-old Christian grandmother was recently murdered.
“Euthanized” is no doubt the term most people would use. I suppose you could also say she received “medical assistance in dying” if you wanted to be really politically correct (and morally repugnant). But murdered is the proper term: put to death against her will by a vulture in a lab coat despite her and her family’s numerous objections.
And, yes, you read that right. Mrs. Brigitte Stegemann had expressed her explicit rejection of euthanasia on several previous occasions—and they killed her anyway.
This is by far the hardest part of the story for Canadians to wrap their minds around. It’s simply inconceivable to us that those entrusted with the duty of health care should apparently care nothing for health. But here we need to remember Hannah Arendt’s little phrase, “the banality of evil.” In this fallen world, evil often cloaks itself in shockingly normal attire—in smiling faces, soft voices, and sweet promises. This case is no exception. In fact, the sheer normalcy of it all is the very thing that makes it so important.
Whether we like it or not, this kind of evil is parading unhindered through our medical system. And we need to reckon with it.
So Much for a Woman’s “Right to Choose”
Mrs. Stegemann’s story has thankfully received a good deal of attention, so I won’t take time to go through all the particulars here. You can read more about the story for yourself here, here, and here, and also here. For present purposes, I want to focus on a few key elements that are especially insidious. And I do mean that in the proper sense of the word. Not merely evil, but subtly evil: treacherous, secret, deceitful.
Consider, for starters, that Mrs. Stegemann had already refused the idea of “medical assistance in dying” (MAiD). In her own words, she didn’t want “the death shot”, and she made that perfectly clear to her granddaughter and primary caregiver, Brigitte Kranendonk, as well as the staff at the nursing home. The staff, however, took her refusal as more of a…suggestion…and continued to present the idea to her even while her mental condition deteriorated. Worse still, they did so without the family’s knowledge, secretly conducting the first MAiD assessment while Kranendonk and her husband were on vacation.
When they returned, Mrs. Stegemann was subjected to a second MAiD assessment where she was, importantly, not told that her life was going to be ended, but that the nurses were going to “give her medicine” and “make her feel at peace.” When Kranendonk, who was present, objected that her grandmother clearly didn’t understand what she was being told, the doctor turned to Mrs. Stegemann and said with all the integrity of an over-the-phone scammer, “We’re going to make sure you won’t have any more pain.”
Kranendonk was then asked to leave the room for the remainder of the assessment. Heaven forbid the “professionals” should be pestered with such trifling questions.
When the day of the murder finally arrived, scheduled cheerfully for “Friday at 11AM” as if it were a dentist appointment, Mrs. Stegemann still didn’t know what was going on. We know this because, as Kranendonk told the Daily Mail, “My grandmother looked at me and said, ‘If you don’t stop crying, I’m not going to sleep tonight.’ That was Friday morning.”
The nursing home, however, wasn’t about to allow a little formality like this to get in the way of their morning plans, so, naturally, they forged ahead undeterred. Mrs. Stegemann was whisked away from her family, and one of the nurses promptly descended upon her, poking and prodding and performing whatever other nurturing activities nurses do these days right before they kill someone.
When the “doctor” entered the room (if we can even use that word), she once again addressed Mrs. Stegemann with that pristine linguistic clarity she used during the earlier assessments—she said she was “here to give her medicine”, and asked Mrs. Stegemann if this was okay.
Now, at this point, whether through lack of hearing, general confusion, or because the nurse had botched the IV placement and she was now covered in her own blood, it’s important to note that Mrs. Stegemann made no reply. As Kranendonk recounts, “My Oma is not moving. She doesn’t open her eyes. She doesn’t nod. She doesn’t say anything.”
Naturally, the doctor took her silence as a resounding affirmation and simply said, “Okay, well, I’m going to proceed.”
And proceed she did.
“Canada is Killing Itself”
There are countless directions we could go with this sad and cautionary tale, each of them worthwhile.
But the question I’d like to think about in closing is the one, I’m sure, that’s on everyone’s mind: How could this happen? How could it happen in Canada, of all places? The true north, strong and free. The land of hockey-loving Canucks, Tim Horton’s, and overly polite nice guys? How could it happen here?
The answer is theological. Very simply, we have turned away from the Fountain of living waters. We have dug for ourselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). We have forsaken the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, and thus doomed ourselves to a life of growing darkness, increasing misery, and rampant societal decay. If that sounds too extreme, listen to the condemnation of wisdom crying out in the Proverbs:
“Whoever finds me finds life and obtains favour from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.” (Prov. 8:35–36)
Conclusion
As we are quickly discovering here in Canada, a commitment to life doesn’t spring naturally from the warm and fuzzy recesses of the human heart. It doesn’t exist as a bare fact of the universe, as obvious or inexorable as gravity. Life is a gift. It comes from above, from the Spirit of the Triune God who is the “Lord and giver of life.” As one of my students recently observed, “Nothing exists apart from Jesus.” And he’s right. Apart from Him, we have no life. Which is a lesson every Canadian needs to learn—and soon.
May God give us grace to become like little children and turn and enter the kingdom.