More Canadians are ending their lives with medically assisted dying, says the third annual federal report on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). Data shows that 10,064 people died in 2021 with medical assistance, an increase of 32 percent from 2020.
The report says that 3.3 percent of all deaths in Canada in 2021 were assisted deaths. At the provincial level, the rate was higher in provinces such as Quebec, at 4.7 percent, and British Columbia, at 4.8 percent.
“It’s rising remarkably fast,” University of Toronto law professor Trudo Lemmens, who was a member of the Council of Canadian Academies’ Panel of Experts on Medical Assistance in Dying, wrote in an email to CTV News. She noted that some regions of the country have quickly matched or surpassed the rates in Belgium and the Netherlands, where the practice has existed for more than two decades.
Proponents say that’s not surprising because Canadians are becoming increasingly comfortable with MAID and some hope rising rates will level off.
“The … expectation has always been that (the rate) will be around four to five percent, (as in) Europe. Probably, in the end, we will get about the same rate,” said Dr. Jean Marmoreo, a physician of family and MAID provider in Toronto.
The report uses data collected from files submitted by physicians, nurse practitioners and pharmacists across the country involving written MAID requests.
Among the findings:
- All provinces saw increases in MAID deaths, ranging from 1.2 percent (Newfoundland and Labrador) to a high of 4.8 percent (British Columbia);
- More men (52.3 percent) than women (47.7 percent) received MAID;
- The average age was 76.3 years;
- Sixty-five percent of those who received assisted dying had cancer. Heart disease or stroke were cited in 19 percent of cases, followed by chronic lung disease (12 percent) and neurological conditions such as ALS (12 percent);
- Just over two percent of assisted deaths were offered to a newer group of patients: those with chronic illnesses but not dying of their condition, with new legislation in 2021 allowing expanded access to MAID.
Documents show that 81 percent of written MAID applications were approved.
Thirteen percent of patients died before MAID could be provided, and nearly two percent withdrew their request before the procedure was offered.
Four percent of people who submitted written requests for medical assistance were denied. The report says some were deemed ineligible because screeners felt the patient was not voluntarily applying for MAID. Most requests were denied because the patients were deemed not mentally capable of making the decision.
But other countries with long-established programs turn down far more applications for assisted dying, Lemmens said, citing data showing that 12 to 16 percent of applicants in the Netherlands are told no.
“This … may be an indication that the restrictions (safeguards, in my opinion) are weaker here than in more liberal euthanasia regimes,” he wrote in his email to CTV News.
But Marmoreo, who has offered MAID since 2016, sees Canada’s low rejection rate differently.
“It’s more like getting the right cases filed,” he said.
“We have a very good screening process from the beginning. So before people actually make a formal application to have an assisted dying, they have a lot of information that has been provided to them by admission…this is what it involves in seeking assisted dying, you must meet these eligibility criteria.