I had a mastectomy and was offered assisted death, reveals Canadian cancer patient

A woman undergoing life-saving cancer surgery in Canada was offered doctor-assisted suicide as she was about to enter the operating room.

The case comes at a time when the number of people choosing to end their lives under the country’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) program has increased thirteenfold, from 1,018 to 13,241 in 2022.

Assisted death, which was legalized in Canada in 2016, is now the fifth leading cause of death in the country.

At the same time, protective barriers put in place to restrict who is eligible for assisted dying were quickly eliminated, with access granted to people with disabilities in 2021 and people with mental health issues joining them in 2027.

The country now has the fastest growing program in the world. Only the Netherlands records a higher rate of this type of death.

The growing trend has raised fears that disabled people and patients with complex needs are being pressured to decide to end their lives.

Speaking anonymously, the 51-year-old cancer patient said of the moment she was offered death instead of surgery: “It shocked me… (it was) the most vulnerable moment I have ever felt in my life.”

The patient, a married grandmother from Nova Scotia, explained that she was undergoing a mastectomy operation due to breast cancer when a doctor asked her if she knew about medical assistance in dying (MAID).

‘I was scared and alone’

“I was sitting in two surgical gowns, one on my front and one on my back, with a cap on my hair and boots on my feet. I was shaking, sitting in a hard plastic chair and alone in the hallway,” she said in a video for the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

“The (doctor) sat down and went through all the scary things with me. Then he asked, ‘Did you know about medical assistance in dying?’

“All I could say was, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

“I was scared and alone and cold and didn’t know what was coming.

“Why was I asked about assisted dying when I was on my way to what I truly believe will be life-saving surgery?”

Her grandmother, a store manager, has struggled with lupus, fibromyalgia and migraines since she was a child, but has always managed her disabilities.

In September 2022 she found a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her first mastectomy was performed the following month.

Despite declining the MAID program’s offer, the woman was asked about assisted dying again before undergoing her second mastectomy nine months later, and spoke to her a third time while recovering in the recovery room following that procedure.

‘Better Dead’

She said the repeated offers made her feel like a burden to doctors and that people in her position “would be better off dead.”

“I felt like a problem that needed to be (eliminated) rather than a patient who needed treatment.

“I don’t want people to ask me if I want to die,” she added.

Several Canadian medical professionals told The Telegraph this is not an unusual situation.

“The law does not prohibit it, and campaign groups have argued that (assisted death) should be offered to anyone who is eligible,” explained Trudo Lemmens, a law professor at the University of Toronto who has testified before Canadian parliamentary committees about the introduction of MAID.

The speed at which assisted dying has rapidly expanded in Canada serves as a warning about the danger of legalization becoming a slippery slope, experts have warned.

“If we talked about these rates with any other cause of death, this would be a national catastrophe,” said Alexander Raikin, a bioethics expert at the Center for Ethics and Public Policy.

One of the main reasons for concern is the impact of assisted suicide on people with disabilities. A coalition of Canadian disability rights organizations launched a legal challenge last month opposing the expansion of MAID to include people with disabilities, which they say has resulted in premature deaths and increased discrimination. against people in the community.

The case will raise alarm bells in the United Kingdom, where an assisted dying bill is expected to be introduced in parliament this month. If approved, it would pave the way for the legalization of the practice.

Although the details of the British bill have not yet been finalized, it is expected to propose granting access to medical help for terminally ill adults with six months or less to live.

“I think people in the UK should be very cautious,” said Professor Lemmens.

Restrictions relaxed

When assisted suicide was first legalized in Canada for terminally ill people, officials said the new law could be expanded in the future, and restrictions have since been loosened several times.

The following year, an Ontario judge issued a ruling allowing MAID to be offered to people with chronic illnesses such as arthritis.

Since 2021 law changes expanded the rules to cover people with disabilities, doctors and patients have accused lawmakers of moving too quickly and creating ethical problems.

“They basically turned medical assistance in dying into euthanasia on demand,” said Professor Lemmens, who described legalization as “opening Pandora’s box.”

However, while some have called for restraint, others are pushing for the floodgates to be opened even further.

Dying with Dignity last year advised a Canadian parliamentary committee that recommended expanding assisted dying to include minors.

Another group, the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers, has advised doctors recommending that people with disabilities who voluntarily stop eating and drinking should be entitled to assisted death without delay.

Some provinces have gone even further. In Ontario, there is a 24-hour MAID hotline, while in Quebec – the place with the highest assisted suicide rate in the world, at 7.3% of all deaths – the local government has committed to moving forward with plans to introduce advance orders. for assisted suicide from October 30th.

The change in the law will allow people who develop serious and incurable illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, to request assisted death, with the procedure carried out after their condition worsens.

The prevailing narrative surrounding the legalization of assisted dying continues to be one of overwhelming positivity, with high-profile celebrities such as Dame Esther Rantzen, who called the UK law “cruel” and a source of “terrible suffering”, lending their voices to the cause.