More and more Canadians are using medical assistance in dying (MAID), revealed the federal government’s third annual report for the year 2021.
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Data shows that 10,064 people died with dignity in the past year, a 32% increase from 2020. Thus, 3.3% of the year’s deaths were assisted. This figure increases in some provinces such as Quebec (4.7%) and British Columbia (4.8).
“[Le nombre de demandes d’AMM] increased remarkably rapidly,” wrote Trudo Lemmens, a law professor at the University of Toronto, who was a member of the Council of Canadian Academies’ expert panel on medical assistance in dying, in an email to CTV News.
The latter also noted that some regions have reached the rates of Belgium and the Netherlands, where medical assistance in dying has been established for more than 20 years.
According to the report, 81% of applications were approved, 13% of applicants died before receiving MAID, and 2% withdrew their application. According to Mr. Lemmes, there is a greater percentage of people who are denied their application elsewhere in the world.
“That may be an indication that the restrictions, in my view, the safeguards are weaker here than in the more liberal euthanasia regimes,” he said.
For Dr. Jean Marmoreo, a family doctor who offers MAID in Toronto, a lower refusal rate means “the good cases are coming forward.”
“We have a very good selection process from the start. So even before people make a formal request for assisted dying, they have a lot of information that was given to them by admission,” he told CTV News, noting that requesters know what the eligibility criteria are.