Catholic Vancouver July 28, 2021
B.C. headed toward another record year for euthanasia deaths
By Terry O'Neill
New B.C. government statistics received by The B.C. Catholic show British Columbia is on track this year to record another record-setting number of medically assisted suicides.
The figures, provided to The B.C. Catholic July 28 by the Health Services Division of the B.C. Ministry of Health, show the province’s five health regions recorded 923 deaths by “medical assistance in dying” (MAiD) in the first half of 2021.
If the current pace continues, B.C. will record more than 1,800 MAiD deaths this year, up 16 per cent from last year’s record of 1,553.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority reported the highest number of people dying by euthanasia of the province’s five health regions with 325 deaths from Jan. 1 to June 30. Vancouver Coastal was next at 197, followed by Interior Health (187), Fraser Health (168) and Northern Health (46).
The B.C. Catholic requested the detailed provincial statistics after the federal government’s last two annual reports on the contentious subject failed to break down provincial statistics by health region.
In releasing the new information, health ministry spokesperson Zachary Mokosak said in an email, “we hope to have this data posted to the BC MAiD website within the next few months and have it updated on a recurring basis.”
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Ontario-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, welcomed the fact that more B.C. data is becoming available. He added, however, that the figures confirm his fears that the March 2021 passage of Bill C-7, which liberalized euthanasia practices in Canada, would lead to increased medicalized killing.
“We’re normalizing it more and more,” Schadenberg said in an interview. “What we are doing is making it something that is part of the health-care system. It represents a great abandonment of people. it’s becoming normal to offer death as a solution, rather than proper care.”
Ontario released its MAiD data for the first half of 2021 last week. As a percentage of its population, which is three times that of B.C., Ontario’s six-month total of 1,363 deaths is far less than B.C.’s, but Schadenberg is concerned that Ontario’s figures are rising quickly, too.
“What we are seeing is a continuous growth due to the wider access to euthanasia that now exists after the passage of C-7,” Schadenberg said.
As reported by The B.C. Catholic in June, B.C. leads the nation in euthanasia, with four per cent of all deaths now attributable to medically assisted suicide compared with a national average of 2.5 per cent.
On a related subject, The B.C. Catholic’s attempts to get more information on assisted suicide policies in the Fraser Health Authority are moving forward.
The newspaper has been trying for more than a year to obtain information about assisted suicide policies in the health region. A freedom of information request was filed in March 2020 requesting information about the development and implementation of Fraser Health’s MAiD policy after The B.C. Catholic learned that health workers were actively promoting euthanasia to patients.
Nearly a year later, Fraser Health responded in February with 115 pages of policy documents that stated MAiD is to be an “entirely patient-driven” process. The documents failed to list any expectations, structures, processes, standards, principles, rules, or regulations concerning a physician or other medical personnel’s introducing the subject of assisted suicide without first being asked for information.
The B.C. Catholic followed up by pressing Fraser Health to provide board documents related to the development and implementation of MAiD policies. A Fraser Health spokesperson turned down the request, citing confidentiality provisions surrounding board deliberations.
In March, The B.C. Catholic filed an appeal to B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commission for B.C.
In April, a privacy office case-review officer said the office had requested that the FHA “produce a complete, unsevered copy of the records in dispute.”
On Wednesday, Shannon Hodge, a senior investigator with the office, advised she would be reviewing the FOI request and following up with The B.C. Catholic and Fraser Health in an attempt to “facilitate a settlement” of the appeal.
If a settlement is not reached, an inquiry may be heard by the commissioner or a delegate, who will decide on the issues in dispute and issue an order, Hodge said.