Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying...Like It Or Not

"I feel like I'm falling through the cracks, so if I'm not able to access health care, am I then able to access death care? And that's what led me to look into MAID [Medical Assistance in Dying, Canada's assisted suicide program]."

"It is far easier to let go than keep fighting."

"When I imagine my final days I see music, I see the ocean."

Jennifer Hatch, 37, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome sufferer 

 

"There were no other treatment recommendations or interventions that were suitable to the patient's needs or to her financial constraints."

Fraser Health  MAID approval, British Columbia 

The video featuring Jennyfer Hatch and her closest friends was shot near Tofino, B.C., in the month before her death. (Submitted by Tama Recker)

 

Canada's health care system is fractured, too many calls on its vital services, too few physicians and nurses battling too many health-care fires. Patients are being under-served, turned away, surgical procedures postponed. In particular the urgency in specialized children's hospitals has emerged as a nightmare. Too many admissions, for children suffering respiratory illnesses, from infants to teens. 

An explosion of mental-health issues that medical specialists are unable to keep pace with. The nation's vaunted universal medicare is becoming a wan shadow of itself. And in the midst of all this, the assisted suicide program of the federal government -- Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) is in the process of expanding its criteria for eligibility. Initial guidelines mandating imminent death from an incurable illness has been relaxed.

And from March forward individuals suffering from mental illness will qualify for medically assisted death with the support of two doctors or nurse practitioners. 

Hatch sat along the shores of a beach as part of the Simons video. (Simons)

 

"This is a case where not only are the provinces not ready for this, not only are professionals not ready, according to the association of chairs of psychiatry, but the federal government itself, it doesn't seem to know what's doing", charged an opposition Member of Parliament, Rob Moore, speaking of clear indicators that doctors and hospitals were not in a position to launch a more inclusive euthanasia program.

A number of military veterans after service with the Canadian Armed Forces, suffering from post-traumatic syndrome and seeking assistance from Veterans Affairs have been taken aback by recommendations or suggestions that they consider the efficacy of solving their mental  health problems by simply ending their lives under MAID. Similarly some people who feel they've come to the end of their tether in the medical system have opted to end it all.

One of these was a 37-year-old British Columbia woman whose diagnosis a decade earlier of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and whose search for medical help after exposure to a stream of specialists none of whom were able to access her medical records when she was left without primary care when her family doctor moved and she was left without a medical contact, felt she had exhausted all avenues open and closed to her. 

When her condition became terminal the health system was unable to offer palliative care. It did, however, positively respond in approving her application for MAID. She arranged for a 'goodbye' gathering of her friends on a beach at Tofino, British Columbia. A three-minute film of the event was taken and aired under the title of All is Beauty. A testimonial on the efficacy of assisted suicide.

Actually, a testimonial on the lack of humanity in the health care system stretched to its limits by unforeseen demands on an system that was teetering on inadequacy before the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A situation where some people in Canada, though treasuring life, feel that without the medical assistance they need for quality of life, little option remains to them but to apply for MAID.

Another woman in the same province unable to find treatment for chronic mental health issues, succeeded in receiving quick approval for assisted suicide in an Abbotsford hospital. This, without the prior knowledge of her family, who following her death, referred the case for investigation to the federal police force, the RCMP.

Former Paralympian Christine Gauthier was offered MAID by a Veterans Affairs caseworker when she complained of delays in installing an in-home chairlift. "Madam, if you are really so desperate, we can give you medical assistance in dying now", she was told by the caseworker.

The cello was one of Hatch's 'favourite things,' according to her friends. In one of the scenes of the video, Hatch was led to a cello player, who helped her feel the vibration of the instrument. (Simons)