Nurse and social worker urge woman with spina bifida injury to consider assisted death

A Canadian woman says she was offered assisted death several times after seeking care for an injury related to spina bifida.

Tracy Polewczuk told CTV News Montreal she lives in constant pain and requires daily care, but the care and assistance she has received have rapidly gone downhill. “They don’t bother asking like they know your name, but they don’t address you. It’s just so impersonal, and they don’t care,” Polewczuk said. “You get up when they tell you to. You go to bed when they tell you. You do what they tell you to. That’s it. You have zero control over your life.” This lackluster care, according to her, has even resulted in an injury.

It was under these conditions that she was twice informed — unprompted — that she was eligible for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), the country’s legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide program. These suggestions to consider assisted death came from a nurse at the rehabilitation center at Ste-Anne’s Hospital and a social worker at the Verdun Hospital, both located in Montreal.

“It feels like we are being pushed towards the MAID program instead of being given the help to live,” Polewczuk said.

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Polewczuk’s story is especially notable, given the fact that Quebec has the highest euthanasia rates in the world; government data from the Commission on End-of-Life Care revealed that 5,686 people underwent MAiD in 2023 — a staggering 7.3% of all deaths.

Doctor Paul Saba, a family physician, told CTV News he is worried about how assisted death is being strongly promoted to vulnerable people like Polewczuk.

“We need to improve our health care system for everybody regardless of their condition, regardless of the disability,” he said.

“What are the circumstances in which those persons have asked it? Are these people at home not being served adequately, not getting a sufficient, not having anyone to help health her or him?

“My theory is that a lot of those people who have asked and gotten medical help to die, that they might have been in circumstances where they had no other choice.”

Despite the fact that the law requires a MAiD request to come directly from the patient, this isn’t the first instance in which it has been suggested completely unsolicited. Similar stories from throughout Canada include a woman diagnosed with cancer, a woman seeking psychiatric care, and a soldier seeking treatment for PTSD.

For her part, Polewczuk says she doesn’t want MAiD, but simply wants better healthcare. “I want to survive. I want to thrive. I want my life back. I want the opposite of what they’re trying to have us do,” she said.

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