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An elderly woman was euthanized within hours of her husband claiming she changed her mind after insisting she wanted to live.
Canada‘s Medical Assistance in Dying laws allow patients to request a painless death if an assessor agrees their terminal condition meets certain requirements.
Patients often wait weeks, but it can happen the same day the application is lodged if judged to be medically urgent by a MAiD provider.
Many members ‘believed the short timeline did not allow all aspects of Mrs B’s social and end-of-life circumstances and care needs to be explored’.
‘Many members brought forward concerns of possible external coercion arising from the caregiver’s experience of burnout and lack of access to palliative care in an in-patient or hospice setting,’ the report noted.
Members were also concerned that Mrs B’s spouse was the main person advocating and navigating access to MAiD, and there was little documentation that she actually asked for it herself.
The MAiD assessments were completed with her husband present, which raised additional concerns that she felt pressured to go along with it.