Canada suspends plan to offer medically assisted dying to mentally ill people after family of 83-year-old said she was euthanized against her will

Canada has announced that it will indefinitely suspend plans to expand its medically assisted dying program to people who are only mentally ill. The law, known as MAiD, was enacted in 2016 for people with terminal illnesses. It was expanded in 2021 to people who have incurable diseases but are not at death's door.Canada had planned to further expand MAiD by March 2027 to cover people who have mental illness as their sole condition. But on Wednesday, Canada's Justice Minister Sean Fraser announced that the planned expansion will be suspended. 'While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach,' he said. Supporters of MAiD for those who are only mentally ill say that not providing access to assisted dying for those patients is a violation of their constitutional rights and access to healthcare. But critics believe that mental illness is not currently understood well enough for medical professionals to properly determine who would be eligible for assisted death.The announcement of MAiD's suspended expansion comes soon after a family from Ontario said their 83-year-old grandmother, Brigitte Stegemann, was euthanized against her will, as she was not sound enough of mind to consent. Canada announced it is suspending plans to expand its medically assisted dying law soon after an Ontario family said their grandmother, Brigitte Stegemann, was euthanized against her will The suspension was announced by Canada's Justice Minister Sean Fraser (pictred). The country will no longer move forward with plans to provide access to assisted death for those who are only mentally ill Fraser announced the suspension on Wednesday and said: 'While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach'In a cognitive test designed to ascertain consent to MAiD, the grandma ‘got every question wrong,' believing her two living siblings were dead, according to her granddaughter who shares the same first name, Brigitte Kranendonk. Two days before Stegemman's assisted dying procedure, her granddaughter sat her down to make sure she knew exactly what was going to happen.‘I used very frank terms. I said: “Do you know that you’re going to die on Friday?”'The 83-year-old was in visible disbelief and began crying for 45 minutes. ‘I’ve made a mistake,’ Stegemann, known affectionately to her family as ‘GG’ or ‘Oma’, wailed.‘She was bawling. Inconsolable,’ Kranendonk told the Daily Mail.Yet 48 hours after she wept uncontrollably at the notion of MAiD, Stegemann is said to have died with her hands clasped in prayer, covered in her own blood due to a botched first attempt at connecting the IV, administered by a nurse allegedly not wearing gloves. ‘She was a vulnerable human being, and they saw an opportunity,’ Kranendonk said.She suspects the MAiD practitioners were inappropriately ideologically motivated, and believes the chain of events leading up to the procedure should be investigated. Fraser said he was 'concerned' about 'a lack of consensus in the medical community about the irremediable nature of certain mental illnesses' Two days before Stegemman's assisted dying procedure, she said 'I’ve made a mistake,' and was 'bawling,' her granddaughter saidIt is understood that the practitioners and care home, who have not commented publicly, maintain that Stegemann had legally consented to proceed.The suspended expansion of MAiD to people who are solely mentall ill would not have made Stegemann ineligible for the procedure, as she had been diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, which qualifies as a terminal illness. However, critics of the expansion believe that the suspension could save lives, as some individuals who may be better served by improved access to housing and healthcare would not not be able to apply to MAiD to alleviate their suffering. Fraser also emphasized his 'concern' about 'a lack of consensus in the medical community about the irremediable nature of certain mental illnesses.' Canadian legislators said they will introduce a new law that codifies indefinitely suspending MAiD's expansion.But the law would also allow patients who have progressive incurable diseases to consent to assisted death before their health deteriorates so much that they are no longer able to, which is currently not legal. This is a breaking news story. More to follow.