I ran into a stat recently that gave me pause. Medical air in dying, what canadians call "MAID", is now a significant cause of death. It's roughly 1 in 20 of all canadian deaths. That is far higher than I would ever have expected.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications...
>>> In 2022, there were 13,241 MAID provisions reported in Canada, accounting for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada.
i don't think it's honestly that startling. extrapolating that number gets you to a total of 323k deaths, probably under a percent of canada's complete population based on their 2021 census population of about 37 million.
in 2021 there were 305k deaths in 2023 there were 326k deaths, and we learned that one sixth of MAID requestors died before they were deemed eligible or ineligible
and 70% were in pallative care
a lot of people die slowly and painfully, and a lot of people think long and hard before making that request.
It's almost certainly better for the vast majority of humans to die on their preferred schedule from something that wont cause them to suffer. The old joke goes:
"I want to die like my grandfather, peacefully in his sleep with no pain, unlike his passengers who all died screaming and in agony"
Most "natural" deaths are just various forms of suffering. You decay while still technically alive, your body stops working, your brain turns to pudding despite your physical fitness and healthy life.
Why WOULDN'T more people choose to die peacefully, if they don't have religious or moral problems with suicide?
I would expect, in an imaginary utopia, that the vast majority of non-accidental deaths would be by choice.
The alternative is laying in an expensive bed for an indeterminate time while a doctor pumps you so full of opioids that you are barely you anymore anyway. Or like my Memere, you die by choking on your own vomit, alone in your home, with everybody coming to see you for your birthday in a few days but miss you, because you die first. She probably would have preferred to schedule it.