Woman fast-tracked for euthanasia after husband’s ‘caregiver burnout’

A woman in her 80s whose husband had ‘caregiver burnout’ was fast-tracked for euthanasia, causing experts to raise concerns about coercion.

‘Mrs B’ told a Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) assessor euthanasia was against her values and beliefs. One day later, after being denied hospice care, her husband asked for another “urgent assessment”, and she was killed by MAiD that day.

The MAiD Death Review Committee (MDRC) evaluates MAiD deaths to provide recommendations to inform medical practice. The ‘Mrs B’ case was one of three particularly concerning same day/next day MAiD deaths that its report considered from 2024.

External coercion

Committee member Dr Ramona Coelho was especially critical of Mrs B’s case, stating: “the MAiD provider expedited the process despite the first assessor’s and Mrs B’s concerns without fully considering the impact of her spouse’s burnout”.

Many of the experts “noted that Mrs. B’s spouse was primary in advocating and navigating access to MAiD with limited documentation of the process being self-directed. Moreover, the MAiD assessments were completed with the spouse present”.

They cautioned “that Mrs. B’s apparent abrupt change in her request or decision to access MAiD should have been discussed, understood, and documented.”

This is the inevitable result of Canada’s dystopian ‘medical assistance in dying’ regime.

The case raised further concerns from the MDRC about “doctor shopping”, as the initial assessor, to whom Mrs B expressed her views against MAiD, rejected the urgent MAiD request but was unable to follow up before a third assessor was quickly found to approve it.

Murder

Jason Kenney, a former senior Canadian politician, recently cited Mrs B’s case on social media, stating: “’Euthanized against her will’ = cold blooded murder.

“This is the inevitable result of Canada’s dystopian ‘medical assistance in dying’ regime.”

He noted: “When I predicted this outcome over years of debates in Parliament, pro-euthanasia advocates would dismiss it as ‘fear mongering’. It turns out that fear of desacralizing human life is entirely rational.”