More than 13,000 Canadians chose a medically assisted death in 2022 — a 31 per cent increase over 2021 when 10,000 people chose MAID, a new report from Health Canada says.
Advocates for disabled people say they are concerned the increase is due, in part, to the requirement that death be “reasonably foreseeable” being removed in March 2021.
“We know that people with disabilities are suffering because they cannot get access to health care, mental health supports, safe housing or disability services they need to live in the community,” Kerri Joffe, a staff lawyer at ARCH Disability Law Centre, wrote in a statement.
“We are very concerned that the increasing number of MAID deaths is linked to this deep social and economic inequality.”
Disability is a condition of eligibility for MAID.
Last year, 463 people whose deaths were not reasonably foreseeable chose MAID, more than double the 223 in 2021.
