More than 15,000 people in Canada received medical assistance in death in 2023, but federal statistics show the growth in cases has slowed significantly.
Health Canada stated the following: 5th Annual Report MAID announced on Wednesday that 15,343 people received assisted dying last year, an increase of 15.8% from 2022.
This is approximately half of the average annual growth rate of 31% from 2019 to 2022. However, the report said it could not draw “reliable conclusions” about whether the slowdown in demand growth indicates “stabilization” in case numbers over the long term.
“Increased awareness of MAID in the continuum of care, an aging population and associated disease and illness patterns, personal beliefs and social acceptance, and the availability of physicians to provide MAID are all contributing factors to the “This could affect the number of people living in the country,” the report said. Said.
The number of people applying for and receiving Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in British Columbia is increasing every year. According to the state government, 677 people died from MAiD in 2017. By 2020, that number had more than tripled to 1,572. In 2023, approximately 2,800 people chose to end their lives that way. CBC health columnist Melissa Lem joins us to talk about MAiD and how it works.
“It will take several more years before trends related to overall demand are finally identified.”
According to Health Canada, 19,660 people applied for MAID in 2023, but 2,906 people died before their applications were realized, 915 applicants were deemed ineligible, and 496 people withdrew their applications. Ta.
State breakdown
The report said death from natural causes was “reasonably foreseeable” in about 96% of people who ended up receiving MAID. Additionally, the median age of recipients was approximately 78 years, and the most frequently mentioned medical condition was cancer, at 64%.
Health Canada said the report is the first to track the racial, ethnic and cultural identities of MAID recipients.
Statistics show that 96 percent of recipients identified as white, with East Asian being the second most common ethnic identity at 1.8 percent.
The federal government says it will not interfere with Quebec’s new law allowing advance requests for medical assistance in dying (MAID), but some doctors in the province are objecting.
“Given both the limitations of the data and the relative homogeneity of the responses provided, it is difficult to conduct a more meaningful analysis regarding potential differences in the provision of MAID according to racial or ethnic identity. “This is not possible,” the report states.
The data also breaks down the number of assisted dying recipients by province, with Quebec having the highest number of cases at 5,601, or 36.5 per cent of the total number receiving MAID.
There have been 4,644 cases in Ontario and 2,759 in British Columbia.
“MAID was administered by a medical practitioner in almost all cases,” the report said, noting that self-administration is only illegal in Quebec.
“In 2023, fewer than five cases of MAID were self-administered…Since 2016, very few people chose this option.”
legal situation
Medically assisted dying in Canada is only legal for people based on their physical health, but federal Health Minister Mark Holland says Ottawa is considering the possibility of expanding the program to include pre-application. said.
In October, Quebec announced that people with the following symptoms: Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease You will be able to request MAID before your mental capacity deteriorates.
applicant The medical condition is a mental illness They will still not be eligible for services and eligibility will be deferred until at least March 2027.
In October, a BC judge granted an emergency injunction blocking the medically assisted death of a 53-year-old Alberta woman, one day before the procedure was scheduled to take place in Vancouver.
The woman had been denied a maid in Alberta, but found a practitioner in Vancouver who approved one. The application for the emergency injunction states that approval was granted without consulting the patient’s other doctors.
Judge Simon R. Koval said in his ruling that the woman, whose identity is protected by the court, appears to have a mental health condition and not a physical illness.
