Woman says she went to the ER with pain and was offered 'assisted dying'

A woman in Canada is speaking out after she visited the emergency room for back pain, and was almost immediately offered Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), the country's euthanasia program.

Key Takeaways:

• 84-year-old Miriam Lancaster said she was offered assisted dying after arriving at the emergency room last year for pain.

• She described being "taken aback" at the suggestion, as she was there to receive treatment, and did not want to die.

• After recovering from her injury, Lancaster was able to resume activities, including traveling the world.

• There have been numerous reports of people being offered MAiD when seeking routine treatment.

The Details:

In a video shared with Amanda Achtman, founder of the "Dying to Meet You" project, Miriam Lancaster, an 84-year-old resident of Vancouver, Canada, said she woke up one morning in April 2025 with "excruciating pain."

Her daughter called an ambulance, and Lancaster was transported to Vancouver General Hospital. There, she was greeted by a young doctor, who told Lancaster, "We would like to offer you MAiD."

"I was taken aback," Lancaster said. "That was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to find out why I was in pain — I did not want to die."

Jordan Weaver, Lancaster's daughter, recalled her memory of the encounter to PEOPLE, noting that she was grateful to have been there to advocate for her mother.

"It was something like, you know, ‘MAiD is an option that would end the pain forever,’ you know, with a sort of encouraging attitude," she recalled. "So if someone was being respectful of healthcare workers, they might almost go along with it. "

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"I think my mom's pretty feisty, but if I hadn't been there, the doctor might have been able to manipulate. It was off the cuff — it was manipulative,” Weaver said.

Ultimately, Lancaster's diagnosis was a fractured pelvis, and her recovery involved resting in a medical facility for a month. Once she had recovered, she was able to resume many of her activities as normal. In Achtman's video, she described being able to travel to Cuba, Guatemala, and Mexico.

"My recovery has been amazing, and there was no need for MAiD to even have been suggested," Lancaster said.

Zoom Out:

Lancaster's experience is far from an outlier. Many people have reported being offered death in Canada while seeking out routine healthcare.

• Christine Gauthier, a Canadian veteran and Paralympian, was offered MAiD when she sought out a wheelchair ramp for her home.

• Mark Meincke, another veteran, was asking for support for a neurological injury when he was told, "Oh, just by the way, if, up the road, you have suicidal thoughts… [MAiD is] better than blowing your brains out against the wall.”

In October 2025, Krista Carr, CEO of Inclusion Canada, warned lawmakers that people with disabilities were afraid to go to the doctor for routine healthcare, due to the frequency at which MAiD was being offered.

The Bottom Line:

Despite being marketed as a "dignified death" for individuals with a terminal illness or unbearable pain, 'assisted dying' — especially in Canada — has gone completely off the rails. Killing should never be seen as a solution to any medical problems, even those deemed incurable.