Glenn Beck vows to pay for surgery in US for Canadian woman approved for MAID: 'Canada must end this insanity'

Glenn Beck, a prominent conservative commentator as well as founder of The Blaze, has been in contact with a Saskatchewan woman approved for MAID (medical assistance in dying) after he offered to pay for her surgery in the US.

Jolene Van Alstine has a rare thyroid disease (parathyroid hyperplasia) which causes increased blood calcium levels which can lead to abdominal pain and broken bones. She has dealt with depression, nausea and vomiting, according to the Toronto Sun.

She had surgery in 2020 to remove the glands, but as the pain returned shortly thereafter, her husband, Miles Sundeen, believes that some of the gland was left in, and she has been unsuccessful in getting the surgery to remove the remaining parathyroid gland.

Currently there is no surgeon in Saskatchewan that can perform the surgery. In order to travel outside of her province to have the surgery, she would need an endocrinologist referral, but none are accepting new patients. She cannot afford to travel to the US for surgery and does not have a passport. She applied and was accepted for MAID on Jan. 7.

After Rachel Cohen Booth, a Vox journalist, posted on X about the story, Beck responded, posting, “If there is any surgeon in America who can do this, I’ll pay for this patient to come down here for treatment.” He added, “THIS is the reality of ‘compassionate progressive healthcare. Canada must END this insanity and Americans can NEVER let it spread here.”

Several hours after Beck posted, Van Alstine apparently responded, posting, “Do you mean that? I am Jolene Van Alstine, the person in the article.”

Glenn Beck has subsequently been posting updates on X. Some surgeons have contacted Beck and he has been in touch with Van Alstine and her husband about getting a passport, and has been in touch with the State Department.

“All I can say for now is they are aware of the urgent life-saving need and we had a very positive call,” Beck posted.

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The MAID program has been criticized in the past for fears that it would become more commonly used than first intended, and a recent report from the Ontario Coroner’s MAID death review committee appears to confirm the criticisms.

For “Track 2” patients, “those whose death is not reasonably foreseeable,” the report found that 48.6 percent of those eligible were living in the poorest areas on the province, while 41.8 percent of Track 1 patients, “those whose death is reasonably foreseeable,” live in the poorer sections of Ontario. Other cities have seen similar results. In 2027, the Liberal Canadian government plans to expand MAID to mentally ill patients. 

Canadian doctors have found the program “morally distressing,” and have expressed guilt over the program’s expansion, since it is now available to those who are not terminally ill, but just unhappy with their life. In 2021, more people were eligible for the program, “leading to 30% more people requesting physician-assisted suicide.” In 2023, 15,280 Canadians used MAID, with over 60,000 total since the program started in 2016.