EXCLUSIVECanada's 'scary' record-breaking, double-digit jump in euthanasia deaths
- Canada saw 15,280 doctor-assisted suicides last year, 15.4% more than in 2022
- Sufferers of diabetes, chronic pain and even 'frailty' are getting approved
- READ MORE: Dad's desperate battle to stop autistic daughter's euthanasia bid
Canada is on track to break euthanasia records once again with 15,280 doctor-assisted suicide deaths in 2023 — a 15 percent jump on the previous year, a campaign group warns.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition says growing numbers of people who are not terminally ill now use the government's doctor-assisted suicide program, known locally as MAiD.
They include sufferers of autoimmune conditions, diabetes, and chronic pain who may be able to live for many more quality years, if they had better healthcare.
The projection comes amid growing concerns over the expansion of Canada's eight-year-old euthanasia program, and more cases of anguished family members ending up in the courts.
Alex Schadenberg, director of the coalition, says ever-more people are approved for euthanasia even when they suffer from nothing more than 'frailty' and other seemingly benign conditions.
Euthanasia deaths jumped by more than 15 percent from 2022 to 2023, our projection shows
'It's scary how the system is getting looser, doctors are signing the paperwork, and people who didn’t meet the original criteria have become eligible,' Schadenberg told DailyMail.com.
Canadians by wide margins support euthanasia and the campaign group, Dying With Dignity, says procedures are 'driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and desire for personal autonomy.'
Rights groups say the country's regulations lack necessary safeguards, devalue the lives of disabled people, and prompt doctors and health workers to suggest the procedure to those who might not otherwise consider it.
Health Canada is expected to release its official MAiD data for 2023 in the coming months.
Ahead of the annual report, Schadenberg gathered publicly-available data from Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, and Nova Scotia, and tallied them together.
He estimated that 15,280 ended their lives with MAiD last year, a 15.4 percent increase on 2022.
MAiD now accounts for 4.6 percent of all fatalities — making it the most common cause of death after cancer, heart disease and accidental injuries, official data show.
About 60,238 people have died from MAiD since the program was launched in 2016.
While the number of assisted suicides has risen, there are signs that it is starting to level off.
Between 2016 and 2022, the number of MAiD cases jumped by about a third each year.
Health Canada spokeswoman Anne Génier said her colleagues were 'still compiling the 2023 numbers.'
Procedures are strictly controlled and are only available to those suffering from an 'incurable medical condition that puts them in an advanced state of irreversible decline,' Génier told DailyMail.com.
Alex Schadenberg, director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, says 'frailty' should not be a reason to get a lethal injection
Nearly two thirds of Canada's recipients of assisted suicides are sufferers of cancer
The average age of a MAiD recipient is 77; and they are evenly split between men, who account for 51.4 percent of such deaths, and women, who account for 48.6 percent.
About two thirds of recipients are cancer sufferers. Heart, respiratory, and brain conditions are also common maladies that drive people to euthanasia.
Though it is popular among Canadians, the MAiD system has been dogged by high-profile controversies in recent months.
A 27-year-old autistic Calgary woman has made headlines by seeking an assisted suicide for what she calls 'intolerable' suffering — while her dad has tried to block the lethal injection in the courts, saying there is nothing wrong with her.
She's currently understood to be re-applying for a doctor-assisted death.
The pair cannot be identified due to a court order. Her dad, known as MV, blames Canada's healthcare system for letting down his daughter, known as MV.
'It no longer works and needs to be repaired ASAP or things will get worse,' he told DailyMail.com.
'I suspect there will be a flood of hopeless young people moving towards MAiD if the rules aren't fixed.'
Last month, Canada was shocked by complaints from two suffereers of neurological problems who said it was easier to access MAiD than access the alternative therapies that would help them live pain-free.
Jody Lance, Lance, a 50-year-old Calgary resident, won a court battle so he could access psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, to stop his crippling 'cluster' headaches.
Then, the noted military veteran Kelsi Sheren went public with a call for easier access to plant therapies for traumatized ex-combatants.
'Why is it that we can access death care, but we can't access a genuine treatment that can help us become a functioning, healthy, taxpaying part of society?' said Sheren.
Canada's road to allowing euthanasia began in 2015, when its top court declared that outlawing assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. It gave national leaders a year to draft legislation.
Kelsi Sheren says it's easier for war-damaged Canadian veterans to access euthanasia than the new-age medecines that could ease their PTSD
Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's liberal government, Canada has repeatedly made it easier to access euthanasia
More than 99.9 percent of Canada's assisted suicides are carried out by a doctor
The resulting 2016 law legalized both euthanasia and assisted suicide for people aged 18 and over, provided they met certain conditions:
They had to have a serious, advanced condition, disease, or disability that was causing suffering and their death was looming.
The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly broadening the number of eligible people.
Critics say that change removed a key safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially decades of life left.
Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease, or disability can seek help in dying.
Officials in February delayed plans to expand MAiD access to those with mental illnesses, kicking a decision back to 2027.
There are also efforts to make euthanasia available to 'mature minors.'
Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of US states, allow doctor-assisted suicide — in which patients take the drug themselves, typically crushing up and drinking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a physician.
In Canada, both options are referred to as MAiD, though more than 99.9 percent of such procedures are carried out by a doctor. The number of MAiD deaths in Canada has risen steadily by about a third each year.
