Husband in Canada with 'caregiver burnout' had wife euthanized

A Canadian woman recovering from heart surgery was euthanized after her husband, who was tired of being her caregiver, requested it.

Key Takeaways:

• A woman named only as "Mrs. B" was in her 80s, and had recently undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery. She was experiencing complications after the surgery, requiring specialist treatment and more surgical procedures.

• Mrs. B decided to stop treatment and opt for palliative care instead.

• Initially, she asked for Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), but then changed her mind, saying it violated her religious beliefs. She again asked for palliative care.

• Her husband brought her to the hospital and was noted by staff to be experiencing "caregiver burnout." He continued asking for his wife to be killed through MAID, filing requests with two different MAID assessors. After the third agreed, Mrs. B was killed.

The Details:

A report from the Ontario MAiD Death Review Committee called attention to a disturbing case, in which an elderly woman was killed through MAiD — not at her own request, but at her husband's. The woman's death was described in Case 4B, with the woman named only as "Mrs. B."

After undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, Mrs. B began experiencing numerous complications, including a reopened surgical incision, infection, and respiratory failure. She began to require specialized care, including more surgeries; as her condition worsened, Mrs. B asked for treatment to be stopped. Instead, she wanted to receive palliative care and die peacefully at home.

However, Mrs. B's husband claimed she had asked for MAiD, so he scheduled a meeting with a MAiD assessor at their home. When the assessor came the next day, however, Mrs. B said she did not want to go through with MAiD, saying it violated her religious and personal beliefs. She reiterated that she wanted to pursue palliative and hospice care at home.

Yet her husband was seemingly unwilling to accept this decision, and medical staff were willing to cooperate with him, denying her request for hospice care:

The next morning, Mrs. B presented to the emergency department (ED) of her local hospital. Her spouse was noted to be experiencing caregiver burnout. Mrs. B was assessed to be in stable condition, and thereby discharged home with continued palliative care. Her palliative care physician completed a referral for in-patient palliative care / hospice care due to her social circumstances (i.e., caregiver burnout).

Her request was denied for not meeting hospice criteria for end-of-life, and a long-term care application was offered.

Meanwhile, her husband continued to shop for a MAiD assessor who would approve her death, claiming it was "urgent." The second MAID assessor agreed Mrs. B was eligible, but when the assessor contacted the doctor who would commit MAiD, the doctor refused, saying there was concern about possible coercion.

The MAiD referral service, however, did not accept this doctor's denial. Instead, they found another doctor, who agreed with Mrs. B's husband. After this, Mrs. B was killed against her personally expressed wishes.

Committee members acknowledged numerous issues with this case. Mrs. B was denied access to palliative and hospice care, and the short timeline between assessment and death did not give enough time for her circumstances to be properly evaluated.

Zoom In:

Family medicine physician Ramona Coelho, who has regularly spoken out against MAiD and who serves as a member of the Ontario MAID Death Review Committee, offered a scathing response to Mrs. B's death.

"The focus should have been on ensuring adequate palliative care and support for Mrs. B and her spouse," she said. "Hospice and palliative care teams should have been urgently re-engaged, given the severity of the situation. Additionally, the MAiD provider expedited the process despite the first assessor’s and Mrs. B’s concerns without fully considering the impact of her spouse’s burnout."

Furthermore, Coelho pointed out that this is part of a larger trend that should concern all Canadians:

"The report also has worrying trends suggesting that local medical cultures — rather than patient choice — could be influencing rushed MAiD.

Geographic clustering, particularly in Western Ontario, where same-day and next-day MAiD deaths occur most frequently, raises concerns that some MAiD providers may be predisposed to rapidly approve patients for quick death rather than ensuring patients have access to adequate care or exploring if suffering is remediable.

This highlights a worrying trend where the speed of the MAiD provision is prioritized over patient-centered care and ethical safeguards."

In other words, doctors who commit MAiD are approving people immediately, rather than ensuring that patients are receiving proper care, and are not being pressured or rushed into dying.

The Bottom Line:

This case is yet another example of how dangerous the MAID regime in Canada has become, as well as a warning for other countries looking to follow Canada's example.

Go Deeper:

• Decades after banning the death penalty, Canada kills inmates by 'assisted suicide'

• Mother claims Canadian euthanasia practitioner killed her mentally ill son

• Outraged police veteran says Canada is promoting death to him and his colleagues