A judge in Canada has cleared the way for a 27-year-old autistic woman to be euthanized despite the objections of her father, who says she is “healthy”, simply “vulnerable” due to her mental health problems.
In his ruling, Judge Colin Feasby acknowledged that a doctor-assisted death would cause the father “deep pain” but said the girl’s right to end her own life took precedence over her feelings.
A publication ban protects the identities of the father, daughter and their doctors. The father is known as WV and she as MV.
“MV’s dignity and right to self-determination outweigh the important issues raised by WV and the harm he will suffer in losing MV,” Feasby wrote in his 34-page ruling, issued this week.
Father-daughter euthanasia case heard at Calgary, Alberta Court Center
“While I consider that WV has raised serious issues, I conclude that MV’s interests of autonomy and dignity outweigh competing considerations.”
The Calgary judge’s decision will be stayed for 30 days, to give the father’s lawyers the opportunity to appeal.
The case highlights Canada’s euthanasia system, known as medical assistance in dying (MAiD), which has grown rapidly since its introduction in 2016, with more than 13,000 people euthanized each year.
MV lives with his father and euthanasia was approved in December.
According to Canadian media, he did not file any court documents explaining how he came to qualify for MAiD.
Her attorney, Austin Paladeau, said the case boils down to the daughter’s right to autonomy and that the father’s affection for his daughter “does not give him the right to keep her alive against her wishes.”
But WV says his daughter “is vulnerable and not competent to make the decision to take her own life,” the judge wrote.
“He says that she is generally healthy and believes that her physical symptoms, to the extent she has them, are the result of undiagnosed psychological conditions.”
His only known diagnoses described in a previous hearing were autism and hyperactivity disorder.
The father’s lawyers had asked for a judicial review to examine how the daughter obtained MAID approval.
Judge Colin Feasby acknowledged that the daughter’s death would be “devastating” for her parents.
Alberta Health Services says euthanasia is a “sensitive and emotional” issue for people in the province
Under Canada’s euthanasia system, two doctors or nurses have to give a patient the green light for MAiD.
When MV asked Alberta Health Services for an assisted death, one doctor approved it and another denied it.
A third “decider” doctor then approved the procedure.
WV questioned the third doctor’s approval, saying he was “neither independent nor objective.”
In his ruling, Feasby said the young woman had “struggled to find a doctor who could diagnose her condition and offer her appropriate treatment.”
“I don’t know why you are looking for MAID,” the judge wrote.
‘Your reasons remain yours because I have respected your autonomy and your privacy.
‘My decision recognizes your right to choose medically assisted death; but it does not require you to choose death.’
Without MAiD, the woman would have to choose between living a life she found intolerable or suicide, she said.
Attorney Austin Paladeau said the father cannot keep his daughter alive “against her wishes.”
Any adult in Canada with a serious illness, disease or disability can seek assistance in dying.
“This is a terrible choice that should not be forced on MV, as attempting to end her life without medical assistance would put her at greater risk of pain, suffering and lasting injury,” he wrote.
Still, the daughter’s death would leave the parents “devastated,” the judge added.
“For many parents, the loss of a child is a life-changing event from which they never truly recover,” he wrote.
“The loss is immeasurable.”
The father’s lawyer, Sarah Miller, said it was unclear whether they would appeal the ruling and push for a judicial review of the case.
The dispute between father and daughter is the latest controversy to shine a spotlight on one of the world’s most permissive assisted dying programs.
Alex Schadenberg, who runs the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition campaign group, said this shows the problems with MAiD.
“Canada’s euthanasia law was not designed to protect vulnerable people,” Schadenberg said.
“The law is designed to protect doctors who are willing to kill.”
Many Canadians support euthanasia and campaign group Dying With Dignity says the procedures are “driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and the desire for personal autonomy.”
Canada has one of the highest rates of assisted dying in the world
More than 99.9 per cent of Canada’s MAiD procedures are performed by a doctor.
Human 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 would not otherwise consider it.
The number of deaths from MAiD increased by 31.2 per cent to 13,241 between 2021 and 2022, official figures show.
Some 44,958 people have received assisted deaths since the federal MAiD law was introduced in 2016.
Canada’s path to allowing euthanasia began in 2015, when its top court declared that banning assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. He gave national leaders a year to draft the legislation.
The resulting 2016 law legalized both euthanasia and assisted suicide for people over 18, as long as they met certain conditions:
They had to have a serious and advanced condition, illness or disability that was causing them suffering and their death was imminent.
The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly expanding the number of eligible people.
Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, Canada has repeatedly made euthanasia easier to access.
The number of deaths from MAiD in Canada has steadily increased by about a third each year.
Critics say the change eliminated a key safeguard meant to protect people who potentially had decades to live.
Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease, or disability can seek help in dying.
In February, officials delayed plans to expand access to MAiD to people with mental illness, pushing the 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) as well as several states in Australia.
Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of US states, allow physician-assisted suicide, in which patients take the medication themselves, usually by crushing and drinking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a doctor.
In Canada, both options are known as MAiD, although more than 99.9 per cent of these procedures are performed by a doctor. The number of deaths from MAiD in Canada has steadily increased by about a third each year.