Tag: MAiD

Canadian Retailer Simons Removes Ad Featuring Assisted Suicide Issue

Fashion retailer Simons removed a video from YouTube on Dec. 1 that featured a young B.C. woman whose death was medically assisted. The ad was up for the month of November and did not promote Simons products, but rather a “powerful life lesson in the person of Jennyfer,” according to the company’s description of the…


MPs Hear of Sixth Allegation of Federal Department Offering Unsolicited Assisted Suicide to Veteran

A sixth veteran has alleged that she was offered unprompted medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, by a federal department responsible for providing medical care and rehabilitation to those who have served in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Christine Gauthier, a retired CAF corporal and a former team-Canada Paralympian at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, told the…


Psychiatry Association Expresses Concerns Ahead of Government’s Expansion of MAiD for Mentally Ill

Canada’s top psychiatrists are calling on the federal government to delay its planned eligibility expansion of medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, to include patients whose sole medical condition is mental illness, which is set to come into effect in March 2023. The Canadian Association of Chairs of Psychiatry (CPA), which represents the leading psychiatrists at…


Faith-Based Think Tank Says Minister Lametti’s Remarks About Assisted Suicide ‘Dehumanizing’

A Canadian think tank is calling on Justice Minister David Lametti to explain comments he made last month about medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, being a “more humane way” to die than self-administered suicide. Lametti made the comments on Nov. 18 while speaking on the Toronto Star podcast “It’s Political,” during which he also…


‘No Justification’ for Medically Assisted Suicide for Babies, Says Conservative MP

A doctor from the Quebec College of Physicians recently suggested to a parliamentary committee that medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, could be made available for disabled babies or those suffering greatly shortly after birth—a premise with which Conservative MP Garnett Genuis disagrees. “Disability is no justification for killing children. There is never a justification…


Expanded Legislation, Insufficient Palliative Care Resources Are Causing Assisted Suicide Numbers to Rise in Canada, Say Physicians

Canada’s expanding assisted suicide legislation combined with countrywide insufficient palliative care resources are causing case numbers of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to rise, say physicians and hospice workers. Testifying before the parliamentary joint committee on MAiD on Oct. 18, Dipti Purbhoo, executive director of Dorothy Ley Hospice in Toronto, said the varied access to palliative care…


MPs Hear Veteran’s Recollection of Call Where He Was Offered Assisted Death When Asking for Health Care

A veteran who was allegedly offered medically assisted death over the phone by a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) worker has released details of the controversial conversation, according to a witness testifying before a House committee looking into the matter. Mark Meincke, a retired corporal, told the veterans’ affairs committee on Oct. 24 that the anonymous veteran…


Canada’s Liberalized Assisted Death Laws: Manitoba Woman Chose Assisted Suicide Due to Lack of Home Care

A Manitoba woman received medical assistance in dying on Oct. 3 because she was unable to receive adequate medical care at home and did not want to move into a health-care facility as an alternative. Canada has the most permissive assisted death law in the world, and will be expanding eligibility criteria further next year….


‘Not Enough Supports’: Manitoba Woman Chose Assisted Suicide Due to Lack of Home Care

A Manitoba woman received medical assistance in dying on Oct. 3 because she was unable to receive adequate medical care at home and did not want to move into a health-care facility as an alternative. Sathya Dhara Kovac, a resident of Winnipeg, suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a nervous system disease that progressively affects nerve cells…


‘Nothing I Could Do’: A Mother Recounts How Her Mentally Ill Son Was Given Access to Assisted Suicide

TORONTO—It was just a few weeks before Christmas 2021 when Matthew spoke to his mother, Sharon Danley, about a holiday he wanted to take in New York City. Being on disability and unable to afford to pay for the trip himself, he asked her for some money, Danley says. She agreed, and just before Matthew…