Woman’s euthanasia request granted in Canada because she could no longer cook for her family

Alarm bells are being raised by top Canadian doctors after an elderly woman in Canada successfully requested to die by assisted suicide based on the fact that she could no longer cook for her family, calling in to question the country’s liberal approval of assisted dying requests.

Doctors from the University of Toronto, Gary Rodin and Madeline Li, expressed their fear and concern regarding the increasing euthanasia approvals. They stated that while they are not opposed to legal assisted dying, they take serious issue with the fact that Canadian law does not require healthcare professionals to offer and guide patients towards an alternative when they are presented with a request to die. 

The doctors also noted increasing requests for assisted dying based on a person’s loneliness or poor standards of living.

People approved for assisted dying “who should not be”

Rodin and Li said that assisted dying is supposed to be a ‘dignified’ last resort, typically for those who are terminally ill. However, in recent years, “too many people are receiving the procedure without the opportunity for careful reflection” with a medical professional, resulting in situations where people are being approved for assisted dying “who should not be”. 

The doctors spoke of how they tackled this issue in one particular case, where they managed to help a woman in her 70s who had requested to die, regain her sense of self-worth and value through counselling and professional help.

The woman had lost her ability to cook for her family, something that was central to her self-image and pride. This loss was so shattering, that she requested to die via assisted suicide. Horrifically, this request was granted. 

Upon her request being approved, the elderly woman shared how she felt as if she had lost her value to her family, becoming a burden. 

However through the help of counselling, this woman came to understand that her value to her family was based on who she was, not what she provided. 

She decided not to go through with the approved procedure to die. That Christmas, she and her family gathered around the table, where she sat proudly while others cooked and served. 

Canada’s euthanasia system “one of the most permissive in the world”

Doctors Rodin and Li stated that Canada’s system for assisted dying is “one of the most permissive in the world”, approving requests based on “almost any form of subjectively intolerable suffering” with a medical basis, or even approving requests based on “medically unexplained physical symptoms”. 

Canadian law requires patients with life-threatening illnesses to wait 90 days before they can die via assisted suicide. However, Rodin and Li are critical of the lack of legal requirement for clinicians to attempt to understand the thought process behind the person's request to die. 

“There is no requirement in either track that patients attempt treatment to relieve their suffering. Nor does the law specify adequate safeguards to protect vulnerable individuals whose decision may be affected by social disadvantage.”

Assisted suicide now accounts for over 5% of Canada’s deaths. 

Political push for assisted suicide and euthanasia in Ireland

In 2024, despite the fact that there had been consistent opposition to attempts to change the law from most of the bodies representing the medical profession in Ireland, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying recommended law reform in the area of euthanasia in Ireland. 

Sandra Parda of Life Institute said:

We have heard much talk from our politicians who support changing the law about assisted suicide and euthanasia acting as a potential solution to painful death. However, there is a consensus among medical bodies that palliative care should not involve any action or treatment designed to deliberately bring about a patient's death.

We must listen to these experts, because they are clear that the alleviation of pain, as promised by many advocates of euthanasia, is a false premise, and that assisted suicide is contrary to medical practise.”

Ms Parda added that it would be a "dereliction of duty" for Irish TDs not to listen to the weight of evidence from Canada, where MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) deaths have risen twelve-fold since 2017.

"The Canadian numbers are startling. The evidence is piling up that euthanasia is transforming Canadian society for the worst. It is now the fifth-leading cause of death in Canada. We know that MAiD assessors and providers are increasingly failing to approach it as a last option, with the percentage of requests that are denied continuing to fall. Preliminary data shows the severity of the situation, with more than 15,000 people lethally injected last year alone."

“The reality in Ireland is that bringing in assisted suicide will save the government and our embattled health service money. Assisted suicide and euthanasia as a cost-cutting measure is something which has been evidenced elsewhere, including in Belgium, where reported euthanasia cases have more than doubled in ten years," the Life Institute spokeswoman added.