I have pondered how we come to the end of this Earthly life even before attending seminary in the late 1970s. While I was an undergrad at Queen's University I took an excellent ethics course offered by Professor Zion who got me thinking about the subject for the first time. While at Emmanuel College I was influenced by an fine study produced by the Anglican Church in Canada I wrote an essay on what was then termed euthanasia and wish that I'd kept the monograph.
Even thought these influences led me to consider what we now call Medical Assistance in Dying as unethical and immoral in almost all circumstances my outlook has changed through the decades, even though I still feel that there must be strong guardrails to protect the vulnerable, including those experiencing mental illness.
As our citizens live longer, thankfully, we see that more people live with serious illness and at times we are better at keeping them from dying than making sure they can live with dignity and a reasonable level of health. Why wouldn't we allow compassion for those are convinced that they have come to the end of this stage of the journey?
When it comes to news about Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada we tend to hear about the individuals who are attempting to access MAID but can't receive it, or feel that they are forced to choose it because of various medical reasons. Late last year a younger woman felt that she must access MAID because she was thwarted in attempts to receive adequate medical support and treatment. Early this year a family went public about their loved one, again younger, who despite her incurable illness and being in great pain was transferred from one hospital to another to access MAID because the religion-based centre wouldn't allow it in their facility. These situations are very real and heart-wrenching and of course they are eye-catching.
What isn't as newsworthy or sensational is the annual report on MAID issued by the federal government --did I hear some yawns? It isn't personal but it is informational and I think it's important that we get a sense of what's happening because of the emotion and noise around what is or isn't happening. The information we have been given was offered at the end of 2025 and reflects the statistics from 2024.
The concerns that there would be a disproportionate number of racialized persons and those with disabilities and would skew younger over time hasn't proven to be the case through six years since MAID was legalized. We need to remember that even though there are individuals who may go public with their desire for MAID it doesn't mean that they will meet the criteria.
We do need to be vigilant in safeguarding those who are considering MAID and as Christians we can be prayerfully engaged in reflecting gospel values of compassion and respect for the life God has given us. I continue to be a strong supporter of hospice and palliative care and have arranged tours of our excellent area facility.
While the United Church has been criticized for demonstrating any openness to MAID I do feel that we are attempting to understand the compassionate response for the time in which we live. It's not that long ago that some of the Christian denominations that categorically condemn MAID refused Christian burial for those who died by suicide.
At the risk of making this blog into a tome, here are some of the significant points from the Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada
While the total number of MAID provisions increased in 2024, the rate of growth decreased substantially, consistent with the trend from 2023. (See section 2)
- This report details 22,535 reports of MAID requests that Health Canada received in 2024. A total of 16,499 people received MAID; the remaining cases were requests that did not result in a MAID provision (4,017 died of another cause, 1,327 individuals were deemed ineligible and 692 individuals withdrew their request).
- The annual rate of growth in the number of MAID provisions has decreased significantly over the past several years, from 36.8% between 2019 and 2020 to 6.9% between 2023 and 2024.
- These findings seem to suggest that the number of annual MAID provisions is beginning to stabilize. However, it will take several more years before long-term trends can be conclusively identified.
The vast majority of people receiving MAID in 2024 had a reasonably foreseeable death. (See section 2)
- A person whose death is "reasonably foreseeable" (i.e., they are close to death) is referred to as "Track 1" These made up 95.6% of MAID provisions.
- "Track 2" refers to MAID recipients who were assessed as having a natural death that was not "reasonably foreseeable". These made up a small minority of MAID provisions (4.4%).
Consistent with 2023 findings, those who received MAID under Track 1 were older, and more likely to have cancer as an underlying medical condition. (See section 3)
- The median age of individuals receiving MAID under Track 1 was 78.0 years, and 60.9% were over 75 years of age.
- A slightly greater percentage were men (52.2%) than were women (47.8%).
- Cancer was the most frequently reported underlying medical condition, cited in 63.6% of cases.
Consistent with 2023 findings, those receiving MAID under Track 2 were predominantly women, slightly younger, and lived with their illness for a much longer period of time. (See section 3)
- The median age was 75.9 years, and 53.5% were over 75 years of age.
- A greater percentage were women (56.7%) while 43.3% were men. This represents a small narrowing of the gap between women and men when compared to 2023 (when 58.5% were women and 41.5% were men). This is also consistent with overall population health trends where women are more likely to experience long-term chronic illness, which can cause enduring suffering but would not typically make a person's death reasonably foreseeable.
- People assessed under Track 2 lived longer with a serious and incurable condition than those assessed under Track 1: 34.1% of those under Track 2 lived with a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability for more than 10 years, compared to 7.4% of those under Track 1.
- Neurological conditions and "other" conditions (such as diabetes, frailty, autoimmune conditions, chronic pain) were the most commonly cited underlying medical conditions.
The number of people assessed as being ineligible in 2024 was proportionally much higher for Track 2 than for Track 1. (See section 2)
- Although Track 2 provisions represented 4.4% of MAID cases in 2024, they represented close to a quarter (24.2%) of all MAID requests that were assessed as ineligible.
More people in 2024 who received MAID responded to self-identification questions on race and Indigenous identity, but findings are still subject to limitations. (See section 4)
- A total of 15,927 people who received MAID responded to the question on racial, ethnic or cultural identity. The vast majority (95.6%) identified as Caucasian (White). The second most commonly reported racial, ethnic or cultural identity was East Asian (1.6%). These percentages are close to those reported for 2023 (95.8% Caucasian; 1.8% East Asian).
No comments:
Post a Comment