The decision to undergo MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) is a deeply personal one, and should ultimately be decided between the one seeking MAID, their physician and their loved ones.
However, that is not to say there are no concerns with the program, and how it can or should be applied when individuals seek to end their lives.
Recently, a case in British Columbia provides a testing ground for those very questions. According to a Canadian Press report, a British Columbia Judge Simon R. Coval has granted a rare urgent injunction stopping an Alberta woman's medically assisted death, the day before it was scheduled to take place in Vancouver this past Sunday.
After repeatedly being denied by Alberta physicians their endorsement to undergo MAID because the problem the woman had appeared to be related to her bi-polar disorder without an underlying untreatable physical condition, the woman and her partner moved to Vancouver and found a willing physician there.
Because the woman’s desire to die was related more to her mental condition, Coval granted the injunction over fears the woman’s case did not truly meet the bar to receive MAID.
"As I've said, the evidence suggests (her) situation appears to be a mental health condition or illness without a link to any physical condition and it may not only be remediable, but remediable relatively quickly," Coval said.
The injunction is only in effect for 30 days over which time the woman will have an opportunity to make her case that MAID is her only option.
This case, and others like it, show the need to be very careful on how MAID is applied. But it also speaks to the larger problem of people not getting timely access to psychological intervention when needed.
In Alberta, without even factoring in MAID, nearly 500 people take their lives by suicide each year.
Link to related Canadian Press story here.
