When Canadian pensioner Brigitte Stegemann died in July at her care home, it was hardly the dignified and peaceful passing that families and friends hope for a fading loved one.
asserted
families → die → one
The 83-year-old German-born cancer sufferer was hooked up to an IV by a nurse who'd allegedly struggled to connect a needle and hadn't even been wearing gloves and then given a lethal drug.
And even as she died, members of her family - led by a devoted granddaughter, Brigitte Kranendonk - were locked in a bitter battle with Stegemann's carers and practitioners of Canada's controversial euthanasia program over whether the deeply religious octogenarian actually wanted to die at all.
uncertain
octogenarian → bear → program
What seems undeniable, her granddaughter told the Daily Mail, was that those carers wanted her to become the latest patient - some say, victim - of Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law.
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some → seem → law
The system allows doctors and nurses to help anyone deemed eligible to end their life with their consent.
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doctors → allow → consent
Qualifiers must be at least 18, mentally competent to make an informed consent and have a 'grievous and irremediable medical condition.
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Qualifiers → make → condition
They must also receive full information about their diagnosis and treatment and palliative options before making their decision and make their choice freely without pressure or influence from anyone else.
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They → receive → anyone
When the system was put in place a decade ago, it was limited to patients who were going to die imminently.
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who → put → patients
Brigitte Kranendonk said her grandmother, who was a devout Christian and had been diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer about five months before her death, had repeatedly told her that she did not believe on religious and personal grounds in being euthanized.
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she → say → grounds
Kranendonk, who held power of attorney over her grandmother after whom she was named, says she made clear to the managers of the Pearl care home in Ontario, that the family opposed plans to euthanize her and did not believe she was mentally capable of making such a significant decision independently.
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she → hold → decision
Brigitte Kranendonk with her grandmother Brigitte Stegemann, a Canadian pensioner who died in July through Canada's controversial euthanasia program
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who → die → program
Members of her family - led by a devoted granddaughter, Brigitte Kranendonk - were locked in a bitter battle with Stegemann's carers
Her granddaughter claims the care home acted to accelerate Stegemann's euthanizing when she went away on a 10-day road trip with her husband, returning to discover the process was already alarmingly well advanced.
'The nurse became very abrasive, very defensive,' Kranendonk told the Daily Mail.
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Kranendonk → lead → Mail
'She was like, "Well, I'm just trying to advocate for her.
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I → try → her
I'm just trying to do what's right for her."
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what → try → her
'
The nurse saw the family as 'an obstacle,' she added.
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she → see → obstacle
'We were getting in the way of her doing MAiD on my grandmother.
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her → get → grandmother
I think she really, truly believes that MAiD is the best for people and shame on me for trying to stop that.'
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MAiD → think → that
Neither the care home nor MAiD officials have commented publicly on the case.
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home → comment → case
The MAiD process either involves a doctor or nurse administering a deadly substance – usually a lethal injection – or the patient doing it themselves with a drug they've been prescribed for the purpose.
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they → involve → purpose
Stegemann's grieving family will doubtless not be surprised to be told that they are far from the only Canadians who claim that a beloved relative has been unethically and illegally urged to shake off their mortal coil by an assisted dying program that, its detractors claim, has run out of control.
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detractors → grieve → control
A country that prides itself on being a particularly compassionate one has opened the door to a system that now accounts for about one in 10 deaths in Canada – more than diabetes and Alzheimer's combined and more than in countries which legalized assisted dying much longer ago.
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which → pride → dying
From 2016, when Canada's national parliament introduced MAiD, through to late 2024, some 765,475 people died through the program.
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people → introduce → program
Overnight, a practice that had previously been considered culpable homicide was transformed into an act of compassion by letting people decide when they died.
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they → consider → compassion
And Canada's liberal politicians rapidly discovered the truth of that old saying about being careful what you wish for: By making patient autonomy the most important consideration, they have found it is difficult to say no to anyone who insists their life is no longer worth living.
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life → discover → anyone
In 2021, the law was amended so that it no longer applied only to people whose death wasn't considered reasonably foreseeable.
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death → amend → people
Now, applicants must show that they have a condition that is 'intolerable' and cannot 'be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable.'
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they → show → conditions
Critics say the wording is ridiculously vague and subjective.
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wording → say → ?
MAiD supporters are pushing hard to extend eligibility beyond the physically ill to those with mental illnesses – a hugely contentious amendment, say experts, given that many people suffering from depression will at some time become suicidal.
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people → push → time
Politicians have repeatedly delayed expanding MAiD in this way, but the proposal may become law in 2027.
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proposal → delay → 2027
Opponents say mental health from assisted dying provisions is a violation of the Canadian constitution.
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health → say → constitution
Canada's parliament has also recommended the age limit be lowered so children can also choose to be euthanized while the Quebec College of Physicians has called for it to be legal to kill severely ill or disabled newborns.
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it → recommend → newborns
Meanwhile, thousands of Canadians have not even had much opportunity to change their mind about dying as they are given the lethal injection on the same day that their MAiD request is approved.
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request → have → day
If a doctor refuses to sign off the request, patients can shop around for one who is more amenable.
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who → refuse → one
And unlike other countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, where euthanasia is also legal, Canadian patients are not required to have exhausted all treatment alternatives first.
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patients → include → alternatives
The vast majority of MAiD applications are approved.
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majority → approve → applications
Perhaps it is little wonder that the world's most permissive government-assisted suicide program has been hit by a steady stream of controversies that critics say only prove that it's madness to widen its scope.
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it → assist → scope
Some have gone so far as to compare Canada's runaway euthanasia system to the Nazis' mass extinction of 'undesirables' such as the disabled on the grounds they were 'polluting' the Aryan gene pool.
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they → go → pool
Professor Tim Stainton, director of the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship at the University of British Columbia, described Canada's law as 'probably the biggest existential threat to disabled people since the Nazis' program in Germany in the 1930s.
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Stainton → describe → 1930s
Madeline Li, a Toronto cancer psychiatrist and assisted dying adviser, has admitted Canada has pushed the boundaries and 'made MAiD so open you can request it for basically any reason,' including simply being 'tired of life.'
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you → assist → life
The backlash contrasts sharply with the complacent dismissal by Canada's Supreme Court in 2015 of fears of a 'descent down a slippery slope into homicide' as just scaremongering.
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backlash → contrast → scaremongering
The court overturned a euthanasia ban after ruling it was unconstitutional as it deprived people of dignity and autonomy.
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it → overturn → dignity
…and 53 more, not listed.
The Aporia
