5% of All Deaths in Canada the Result of Doctor-Assisted Suicide

[mountaineer]

Report: 5% of All Deaths in Canada the Result of Doctor-Assisted Suicide
Protestia
December 1, 2025   

More than five percent of all deaths in Canada in 2024 were the result of legalized doctor-assisted suicide, according to the latest government report on MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying).Key findings from the 2024 report:

    * 95.6% of MAID cases (n=15,767) were Track 1 (death reasonably foreseeable).
    * 4.4% of cases (n=732) were Track 2 (death not reasonably foreseeable).

For Track 1 patients, where death is imminent, most people cited a terminal cancer diagnosis, including lung, colorectal, pancreatic and blood cancer.

For Track 2 patients, where death was not imminent, the most commonly cited underlying medical conditions were neurological disorders and “other” conditions such as diabetes, frailty, autoimmune diseases, and chronic pain. ...

In a survey conducted last month, 25% of Canadians agreed that poverty or homelessness should qualify someone for MAID.Canadian politicians are currently debating whether to expand eligibility to include mature minors (children) and people whose sole condition is mental illness.

"Frailty"? Yikes.

[mountaineer]

... The median age of those who chose MAID last year was 77.9 years. Cancer was the most frequently cited medical condition, affecting more than 63 per cent of MAID recipients. The most common types of cancer cited were lung, colorectal, pancreatic and hematologic.  ...

More than 95 per cent of those who had an assisted death last year had a condition that made their deaths “reasonably foreseeable,” the report said.

Just 4.4 per cent were “track 2” MAID patients – people whose deaths were not deemed to be foreseeable but who said they were suffering intolerably.

Assisted death became legal in 2021 for people whose deaths were not reasonably foreseeable.

For those patients, there’s a minimum 90-day waiting period between the first assessment and the procedure. ...

The Globe and Mail

[libertybele]

I can understand someone who has been in unbearable pain for awhile with no chance of improvement. There have been cancer patients who have been told that they were terminal go into remission so this is quite a broad list of circumstances and some I don't necessarily agree with.  I think each case needs to be carefully evaluated rather than it be that a few boxes are checked off and doctor assisted suicide is allowed.

[mountaineer]

As I recall, the Canadian gov't once offered one of its veterans the option of suicide after she simply requested a new wheelchair. She didn't want to die, she just wanted to get around a little better.