Skyrocketing MAiD Deaths: A Profound Societal Failure

In Canada, attorney Derek Ross looks at the government’s latest report on physician-assisted suicide (called “Medical Aid in Dying” in Canada) and notes more than 13,000 people in Canada had their lives ended through assisted death in 2022 alone.  “This marks a 31.2 percent increase over the prior year and continues the trend of at least a 30 percent increase in MAiD deaths annually since 2019,” Ross said. 

Ross also notes the majority of MAiD recipients received palliative care and disability support services, but nearly 200 Canadians “required but did not receive” any disability support services.  While support services were reportedly “accessible if needed” in many of these cases, it’s unclear why they weren’t actually “accessed” before death was administered.  And this still left at least 49 people who died without any access to disability supports, and thousands more whose needs and access to such services were simply reported as “unknown.”

Read More:  The Hub