An Alberta man has asked a judge to block his 27-year-old daughter’s doctor-assisted suicide, saying she is ineligible because of her autism and other mental health issues.
The father, known as WV, cannot be identified under a court order. He requests a judicial review of the case.
But lawyers for the woman, known as MV, who lives with her father, say he should not be allowed to interfere with her decision, which was approved by doctors.
The case highlights the dramatic increase in euthanasia deaths in Canada since the procedures, known as MAiD, became legal in 2016.
The euthanasia case for father and daughter is being heard at the Calgary Courts Center in Alberta
Canadian officials are even considering allowing sick children and the mentally ill to choose lethal injections.
Sarah Miller, the father’s lawyer, urged a Calgary court this week to extend an injunction that had been used to block MV’s planned Feb. 1 assisted suicide.
Miller said in a legal brief that the woman ‘suffers from autism and possibly other undiagnosed illnesses that do not meet the eligibility criteria for MAiD,’ according to the Calgary Herald.
The daughter also suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to the father, who says euthanasia is not the answer to her problems.
The daughter’s request for assisted suicide, made last year, has been approved by three doctors.
Miller says there are ‘genuine concerns about impartiality’ and that MV has been influenced to make its life-ending decision.
“There is no evidence before this court that she has an irreversible condition,” Miller wrote.
Alberta Health Services says euthanasia is a “sensitive and emotional” issue for people in the province
Attorney Austin Paladeau Says Father Can’t Keep Daughter Alive ‘Against Her Wishes’
The court has to step in now, as a report would be pointless after MV has been euthanized, the announcement reads.
Judge Colin Feasby calls case ‘regrettable’
The daughter’s lawyers Austin Paladeau and Evan Jovanovic say the euthanasia request is a matter for MV and her doctors.
The father has no right to intervene, they said.
“He’s at risk of losing his daughter, and while this is sad, it doesn’t give him the right to keep her alive against her wishes,” Paladeau said, according to the CBC.
Feasby called the case ‘more annoying than most’.
He has not yet decided whether to allow MV to end her life, or to order a judicial review of her doctors’ decisions.
Feasby said he expected to reach a decision quickly, but that it would likely be contested and end up in the appeals court.
Many Canadians support euthanasia, and the campaign group, Dying With Dignity, says procedures are ‘driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and the desire for personal autonomy’.
Canada has among the highest rates of assisted dying in the world
More than 99.9 percent of Canada’s MAiD procedures are performed by a physician
Rights groups say the country’s rules lack necessary safeguards, devalue the lives of disabled people and encourage doctors and health workers to suggest the procedure to those who would not otherwise consider it.
The number of MAiD deaths rose 31.2 percent to 13,241 between 2021 and 2022, official figures show.
About 44,958 people have received assisted dying since the federal MAiD Act was introduced in 2016.
Canada’s path to legalizing euthanasia began in 2015, when its Supreme Court declared that banning assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. It gave national leaders a year to draft legislation.
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 caused suffering and their death was at risk.
The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, which significantly expanded the number of eligible people.
Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, Canada has repeatedly made euthanasia easier to access
The number of MAiD deaths in Canada has increased steadily by about a third each year
Critics say the change removed an important safeguard intended to protect people with potentially decades of life left.
Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease or disability can seek assisted dying.
Officials in February delayed plans to extend MAiD access to those with mental illnesses, pushing a decision back to 2027.
There are also efforts to make euthanasia available to ‘mature minors’.
Euthanasia is legal in seven countries – Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain – plus several states in Australia.
Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of US states, allow physician-assisted suicide – where patients take the drug themselves, typically crushing and drinking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a doctor.
In Canada, both options are referred to as MAiD, although more than 99.9 percent of such procedures are performed by a physician. The number of MAiD deaths in Canada has increased steadily by about a third each year.