Canadian man’s assisted-death experience leaves son questioning safeguards

A Canadian man’s decision to die through the country’s medical assistance in dying program happened far faster than his son expected. Eric Edmeades now says he believes the system has gone “way past appropriate.”

Edmeades, who founded the speaker-training platform Speaker Nation, said his father, Baz, began considering Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying program after his health worsened in late 2023. Baz was in his late 70s and dealing with several medical problems.

The family initially thought the process would take months. In January, they understood it could be at least six months away. Edmeades and his wife went to Vancouver early in 2024 to see his father, believing there would be more time.

“And then all of a sudden it was like, ‘No, it’s next week,’” Edmeades recalled. His father died through MAiD on Feb. 27, 2024.

According to Edmeades, his father had been healthy for most of his life, but his physical abilities and independence declined significantly, particularly during pandemic lockdowns. His symptoms included epilepsy and neurological pain. Edmeades also wondered whether interactions among his father’s medications might have contributed to the decline.

When lockdowns made it harder for his father to go out walking, Edmeades said, his physical condition and sense of freedom suffered. Eventually, his father began to feel that life had lost its purpose.

His father had talked about suicide before, Edmeades said, so his interest in MAiD did not initially alarm the family. He and his wife were grateful they had already arranged their Vancouver visit and could spend time with him, though Edmeades assumed they would see him again.

Edmeades said he was not communicating with his father’s medical providers and did not understand the speed of events until after his father had died. Other relatives and friends also had reservations. His brother opposed the decision, and one of his father’s close friends spent about 45 minutes talking with him in his final days. By then, Edmeades said, his father had made up his mind.

The experience has led Edmeades to question whether the program has sufficient safeguards. He said he believes assisted dying may be appropriate in some situations, but argued that Canada’s system has gone too far.

He also questioned the government’s role in overseeing eligibility decisions, saying they should be independent and free from financial incentives. Without that separation, he warned, the system could move down a “slippery slope.”

Under Canadian rules, applicants must be at least 18, eligible for publicly funded health care and able to make their own medical decisions. They must request MAiD voluntarily, without pressure, and give informed consent. They must also have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability, an advanced and irreversible decline in ability, and ongoing physical or psychological suffering they consider intolerable and cannot acceptably relieve.

Legislation introduced by the federal government on Oct. 27, 2026, would permit advance requests while blocking a planned expansion of eligibility for people whose only underlying condition is mental illness.

Canada legalized euthanasia in 2016. A BBC report has said MAiD accounts for one in every 20 deaths in the country. A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimated that assisted dying could reduce health care costs by between $34.7 million and $136.8 million annually. The study also said costs should not factor into decisions made by patients or physicians.

Ian McLeod, a senior media relations adviser with the Department of Justice Canada, said the law requires a voluntary request, freedom from outside pressure and informed consent, along with strict eligibility rules and safeguards. Knowingly disregarding those requirements is a criminal offence, he said.

McLeod said the current law excludes people from MAiD when eligibility is based on mental illness, including suicidal thoughts. The proposed legislation, Bill C-41, is intended to reinforce that exclusion, he said.

Under the proposal, if a person has both a mental illness and another qualifying condition, such as a physical or neurodegenerative illness, eligibility must be assessed on the basis of the qualifying condition. Mental illness may contribute to suffering, McLeod said, but cannot itself establish that the eligibility criteria are met. Having a mental illness does not automatically make someone ineligible.

For patients whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable, McLeod said, two independent physicians or nurse practitioners must assess eligibility. At least 90 full days must normally pass between the beginning of the first assessment and the assisted death.

The period can be shortened if both assessments are complete, both practitioners agree the patient may soon lose the ability to consent, and the practitioner providing MAiD considers a shorter wait appropriate.

McLeod said federal law sets minimum safeguards, while provinces and territories are responsible for administering the program and may add further protections. He said questions about how MAiD is overseen and delivered should be directed to provincial or territorial authorities.