The number of Canadians who ended their lives by euthanasia and assisted suicide increased by nearly 35 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government says.
Health Canada official Abby Hoffman said 7,595 people received “medically assisted deaths” in 2020, representing 2.5 per cent of deaths in Canada for the year.
In 2019, 5,631 people died by physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada, accounting for 2 per cent of all deaths in the country.
Canadian Press reported that the numbers show euthanasia deaths rose 17 per cent from 2019, down from a 26 per cent the year before.
But Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition pointed out the calculations actually show an increase of nearly 35 per cent from 2019, which means euthanasia deaths are not only increasing, but the rate of increase is growing.
Hoffman provided the numbers at a meeting of the newly launched joint committee conducting a parliamentary review of Canada’s euthanasia regime. The committee will study a number of controversial issues such as whether assisted suicide should be provided to minors as well as advance requests so euthanasia can be given later in life when an individual may not be able to provide consent.
The joint parliamentary committee is also to examine the state of palliative care in Canada and the protection of Canadians with disabilities. It is to report back with any recommended changes to the law by next April.
The increase in physician-assisted deaths occurred prior to the passage in March of Bill C-7, which could result in even greater expansion of requests for euthanasia. Bill C-7 eliminated the requirement that a patient’s death be “reasonably foreseeable” in order for lethal drugs to be prescribed.
The law also allows for any patient who is suffering, regardless if their condition is terminal or not, to request and receive an assisted death. Under the new law, depression and other mental illnesses will be grounds for euthanasia and assisted suicide as of March 2023. An expert panel will study the issue and recommend measures to protect the vulnerable.
On Monday, Hoffman stated that in 2020 the reason most frequently cited for requesting euthanasia was “the inability to engage in meaningful activities or perform activities of daily living.” Cancer was the most commonly-cited illness among people who requested lethal drugs.
The number of Canadians who request and receive euthanasia has risen every year since it was legalized in 2016. Hoffman said she believed the growth is connected to greater public awareness.
“Increased awareness and greater acceptance by Canadians of MAID [medical aid-in-dying] as an end-of-life option has resulted in steady growth in MAID since 2016,” she said.
According to Hoffman, a nearly equal number of men and women requested physician-assisted suicide. The requests did not disproportionately come from either rural or urban areas.
In total, 9,300 people submitted written requests for euthanasia, of which 79 per cent were carried out. Hoffman said 50 people changed their minds after requesting an assisted death, withdrawing their request prior to receiving it. In many cases, patients died before lethal injections could be administered.
Hoffman said that of those who died by physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia, most had access to palliative care or had received palliative care, but still opted to end their lives.
Bill C-7 was written in response to a Quebec Superior Court decision in September 2019 that found that two people with disabilities who were not terminally ill had the legal right to request that a doctor end their lives.
In the case, Jean Truchon, a Quebec man who had cerebral palsy, filed suit after his request to end his life was denied as his condition was not terminal.
A judge ruled that Truchon and his co-plaintiff Nicole Gladu, who has post-polio syndrome, could not be denied a euthanasia or assisted suicide if they wished to end their lives, and that both lethal procedures should be available to Canadians without terminal conditions.
The Trudeau government chose not to appeal the decision.
Truchon received euthanasia in April 2020. Gladu is still alive.
With B.C. Catholic files.