Juno News - Doctors perform heart transplant from assisted suicide donor

00:00:00.000 Canadian doctors have now begun transplanting organs harvested from individuals killed through

00:00:10.300 Canada's euthanasia program. A new poll shows the NDP Premier David Eby is now tied or ahead

00:00:17.100 of BC Conservative leader John Rustad in public opinion on several issues, including crime.

00:00:22.400 A Conservative MP grilled the Liberal government over its ban on nicotine pouches, highlighting

00:00:28.760 how contradictory the law is when compared to the Liberal's stated goal to reduce smoking

00:00:34.180 levels in the country. Hello Canada, it's Tuesday, October 7th, and this is the True North Daily

00:00:40.300 Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm Jeff Knight. We've got you covered with all the news you need

00:00:45.960 to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere

00:00:51.800 else. Canadian doctors have performed a successful heart transplant using an organ from an assisted

00:01:00.640 suicide donor. The 38-year-old donor who had ALS recently underwent medically assisted suicide

00:01:08.720 and had consented to organ donation before the procedure. According to a case report published

00:01:15.140 in June by physicians from the Ottawa Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,

00:01:20.980 the donor's heart was removed within minutes of death, reanimated, and transplanted into a 59-year-old

00:01:27.760 man in Pittsburgh. The recipient was discharged 20 days later in good condition. This is believed to

00:01:34.280 be the first recorded heart transplant after assisted suicide with previous donations involving lungs,

00:01:40.880 kidneys, kidneys, and livers. Since assisted suicide became legal in 2016, organ donation

00:01:47.480 following euthanasia has steadily increased. According to the Canadian Institute for Health

00:01:52.540 Information, 7% of all deceased organ donors in 2024 died through assisted suicide. That year,

00:02:00.920 5% of all transplants used organs from such donors. A review cited in both LifeSite News and

00:02:08.580 National Post noted that at least 235 assisted suicide patients have consented to donate their organs

00:02:15.740 since 2016. Of 286 international organ donations after death cases documented up to 2021, 136 occurred

00:02:27.100 in Canada, placing the country at the forefront of the practice. Jeff, what are some of the critics

00:02:33.280 of Canada's assisted suicide program warning about this, particularly how far it's gone? The numbers

00:02:43.060 that we're seeing of people choosing to die this way? And what are the potential implications of

00:02:50.780 allowing recipients of medically assisted suicide to donate their organs? Yeah, Cosman, critics are raising

00:02:57.340 some serious red flags about this heart transplant case and the broader trend of organ donation after

00:03:02.700 assisted suicide. They're worried that it could lead to a slippery slope where the program is seen

00:03:07.820 more as a way to harvest organs rather than purely as a compassionate end-of-life option. Organizations

00:03:13.460 like LifeSite News and the National Post have highlighted concerns that this practice might pressure

00:03:18.220 vulnerable individuals into choosing MAID, not just for personal reasons but also to benefit others,

00:03:23.660 potentially undermining the voluntary nature of the decision. There's also the ethical dilemma of

00:03:28.860 whether the organ donation process influences the timing or decision to proceed with MAID. As noted in

00:03:34.860 a UN report from 2025 that recommended disqualifying non-terminal patients from euthanasia, the potential

00:03:42.140 implications are pretty heavy. There's a fear that it could devalue life, especially for those with

00:03:47.420 disabilities or chronic conditions who might feel like a burden or see MAID as their only contribution. Plus,

00:03:53.420 the international attention, with Canada leading in 136 out of 286 cases by 2021, which suggests this

00:04:01.180 could set a precedent that other countries might follow, raising global ethical concerns about the

00:04:05.820 intersection of euthanasia and organ donation. It's a pretty complex issue and the worry is that

00:04:10.940 without strict safeguards it could lead to unintended consequences that blur the line between choice and

00:04:16.620 coercion.

00:04:20.940 BC NDP Premier David Eby has pulled ahead of BC Conservative leader John Rustad and is now leading

00:04:27.580 or tied with the opposition on several critical issues, including crime. According to a new research

00:04:33.500 co-poll, the BC NDP are six points ahead of the BC Conservatives when it comes to vote intention. When voters

00:04:40.060 were asked to rank who was more fit to be premier, Eby, 37%, gained a 16-point lead over Rustad, 21%.

00:04:48.460 When broken down by issues, Eby is seen as better suited than Rustad to handle seven key issues,

00:04:54.060 including education, 44% to 26%, the environment, 43% to 24%, health care, 41% to 28%, housing and poverty,

00:05:03.900 40% to 28%, energy, 40% to 29%, the economy, 38% to 31%, and accountability, 37% to 30%. The two leaders

00:05:16.540 are tied on crime and public safety at 34% each. Crime has been a sticking point for Eby as he tried to

00:05:23.340 distance himself from unpopular policies like decriminalization and his own past advocacy,

00:05:29.260 which includes pending a book titled, quote, How to Sue the Police and Private Security in Small

00:05:35.500 Claims Court. Housing, poverty and homelessness remain the top concerns for British Columbians,

00:05:41.180 with 30% identifying the issue as their top priority, down four points. So, Cosmin,

00:05:46.540 what could have made Rustad fall so far in public opinion? What are British Columbians who were his base

00:05:51.660 in the last election saying? Yeah, Jeff, there's several problems that seem to be compounding

00:05:57.100 for the BC Conservatives, but in particular with John Rustad. He faces internal divisions with his own

00:06:05.420 party, but I think also the base has sort of lost faith in John Rustad as being the capable person

00:06:14.620 to represent them. And when I saw the fact that I think this is the only Conservative Party in the

00:06:22.220 entire country, a provincial Conservative Party that is polling worse on a topic like crime than anywhere

00:06:30.140 else. It's astounding to me that the BC Conservatives are performing this bad. They're tied with David Eby

00:06:41.180 on crime. I mean, it's ridiculous. David Eby has, in many ways, played a direct role in how bad crime has 0.96

00:06:49.820 gotten in British Columbia. Through the disastrous policies that he's pushed his entire life, even

00:06:57.820 before he went into office and pursued politics. As you mentioned in the article, he advocated for

00:07:06.220 criminals to essentially sue the police and get away with crimes. You know, they've overseen

00:07:12.140 the criminals being let out on bail. The BC Prosecution Service has not done its job. So,

00:07:19.020 it's quite astounding that this is where that party has come. And we're talking about a party that

00:07:25.580 essentially rose from virtually nothing. They were a force to be reckoned with decades ago, but it was

00:07:33.180 just in the last few years that the BC Conservatives were revived and turned into what it is now. But the

00:07:42.140 question is whether John Rustad's time as leader has served its purpose. And I think a lot of people

00:07:48.860 are looking at this poll today and how remarkably poor the BC Conservatives are performing, especially

00:07:56.940 on those core issues. And they have a lot of questions to ask themselves as a result.

00:08:01.980 A Conservative MP has slammed the Liberal government's ban on commercial nicotine pouches,

00:08:10.700 arguing that prohibiting smoking cessation alternatives makes no sense in the effort to

00:08:16.620 reduce cigarette use. Conservative MP Burton Bailey questioned the Liberal's strategy to reduce the

00:08:23.100 number of Canadian smokers to 5% by 2035 by banning products used to quit. He asked why the government

00:08:31.580 wouldn't reverse its commercial ban on nicotine products. Data from 2022 to 2025 would suggest

00:08:38.140 that the use of nicotine pouches as an alternative to smoking cigarettes had a marked decrease in

00:08:44.380 cigarette sales. From the point of Health Canada regulation of about 4%. Why was the sale of pouches

00:08:52.620 approved by Health Canada in the first place? Nicotine pouches were approved as one of the products

00:09:07.180 that exist in terms of other ways in which people can consume nicotine and that it is less harmful than

00:09:20.460 cigarettes. The Liberals ban implemented last year prohibits the sale of nicotine pouches in

00:09:26.060 convenience stores but still permits select brands to be sold by pharmacists, while several flavored

00:09:32.060 options have been outright banned. Bailey asked the Deputy Health Minister why the government doesn't allow

00:09:38.780 convenience stores to sell the product, making the less harmful smoking cessation product more available to

00:09:45.740 Canadians with valid ID. The Deputy Minister noted that the ban was to prevent children from accessing

00:09:52.860 nicotine pouches and that Health Canada quote will continue to review and consider in order to inform the

00:09:59.900 government's regulations. Bailey noted that cigarettes are still available with proper ID but nicotine pouches

00:10:07.020 which the Deputy Minister admitted were a healthier alternative and used to get off cigarettes were less

00:10:13.580 available. Why is it easier to buy cigarettes when we want people to stop smoking? Why aren't we allowing

00:10:21.260 these nicotine replacement pouches to be bought in convenience stores like cigarettes? So the Ministerial

00:10:29.900 order in respect of nicotine replacement therapies was put in place as a way to protect youth from harms of

00:10:43.580 nicotine replacement therapies. Nicotine replacement pouches and that was the reason behind the ministerial order.

00:10:53.980 But cigarettes are still available with proper ID. Why can we not have the same for replacement therapy?

00:11:01.980 Jeff, to me it doesn't make sense that the Liberals would go and ban nicotine pouches

00:11:09.420 which you know nicotine is a highly addictive substance but let's be real it does not contain all of the poison

00:11:17.260 tar etc that is inhaled via cigarettes yet they still allow the sale of cigarettes across the country

00:11:26.460 at convenience stores and other locations. So what are people saying about this and the logic behind the

00:11:34.380 Liberals commercial ban on nicotine pouches? Yeah, Cosmin experts and critics have been pretty vocal about all this

00:11:41.420 their arguments are all over the place. You have Anne Cothiwalla, the President and CEO of the Convenience Industry 0.60

00:11:48.380 Council of Canada and she's been pushing hard saying the ban is contradictory because it bans a product that's actually

00:11:54.460 helping people quit smoking while still allowing cigarettes to be sold with proper ID.

00:11:58.860 She's argued that outright bans just push consumers back to the black market which is a big deal

00:12:05.180 because these illegal sales could be funding organized crime and there's no health regulation

00:12:09.820 on these black market goods making them even more dangerous. Plus she's pointed out that convenience

00:12:15.500 stores are everywhere in nearly every riding and township across Canada so a failed convenience store

00:12:21.100 industry could be a disaster for the Canadian economy. During the last election conservatives like Burton

00:12:26.940 Bailey echoed this questioning why the government wouldn't reverse the ban to make these products

00:12:31.740 more available especially considering they're a healthier alternative. Pharmacy unions have also

00:12:37.180 chimed in saying they don't want the responsibility of deciding who can and can't access nicotine pouches

00:12:43.340 which adds another layer to the criticism. It's a mess really with everyone from industry leaders

00:12:47.980 to health professionals pointing out how the ban doesn't make sense and could have some pretty nasty side effects.

00:12:53.420 That's it for today folks thanks for tuning in you can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by

00:13:01.580 subscribing to the daily brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also while you're at it make sure to hit us with

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Juno News - October 07, 2025

Doctors perform heart transplant from assisted suicide donor

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