Canada’s controversial medically assisted death program is fastest-growing in the world

Medically assisted death, also known as assisted suicide, is among the top six leading causes of death in Canada.

A new research report from Christian think tank Cardus showed cancer, heart diseases, COVID-19, accidents and cerebrovascular diseases were the only conditions that exceeded medically assisted death as causes of death.

Since assisted suicide became legal in Canada, the number of deaths have grown each year. In 2016, 1,018 people died via medically-assisted death, according to Statista . By 2020, it was 7,611 people. The most recent data shows 13,241 people died in 2022. The program has come under scrutiny for its expansive approach, as shown in articles and editorials from The Washington Post , The Associated Press and National Review .

There may also be issues with the way records report deaths.

“At present, there is a variety of ways in which Canadian federal and provincial government agencies record MAiD deaths for vital-statistics purposes,” said the report. “Some record MAiD deaths as ‘natural deaths’ by assigning the underlying condition as the immediate cause of death and MAiD as the secondary cause.”

Some records only include the illness the person has and do not record medically-assisted death, said the record.

“According to Statistics Canada, no person in Canada dies from MAiD, even if the underlying illness or disability was not terminal,” said the report, linking to a fact check.

The fact check quoted spokesperson Jadyn Yelle, who said, “Medical assistance in dying is recognized as the manner of death and not the cause of death.” Yelle said it was “inappropriate to situate it among the leading causes of death,” since the illness, disease or disability “is recognized as the underlying cause of death.”

The report said there is no way to independently verify the reporting of medically-assisted death in Canada. “The same medical professionals who directly assess requests and administer MAiD are the ones who submit the data to Health Canada.”

Health Canada is responsible for publishing an annual report with the number of medically-assisted deaths, though the report said Statistics Canada is used by policymakers.

The report also raises other concerns about the way medically-assisted deaths are reported to Canada. It states the reporting is self-reporting without the patient or an outside doctor participating.

“The same persons who could face criminal repercussions for not strictly following the criminal exemptions for assisted suicide and homicide under Canada’s federal laws regulating MAiD are the only ones reporting whether they adhered to the regulations,” said the report.

The issues with reporting prevent researchers from being able to accurately verify how many people die from medically-assisted death, said the report. This could have a direct impact on policymaking.

Requests for medically-assisted death are also denied less frequently than before. In 2019, around 8% of requests were denied. In 2022, 3.5% were. The percentage has decreased each year.

Canada has expanded its medically-assisted death program. To qualify for assisted-suicide, a person would need to be an adult and have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability. The law requires a person say their physical or psychological suffering cannot be alleviated in a manner acceptable to them.

There is no explicit requirement in law for a terminal prognosis.

The country is expected to modify its law to expand medically-assisted death to people with mental illness as a person’s sore underlying condition on March 17, 2027.

The report also said Canada’s medically-assisted death program has grown faster than other countries and U.S. states.

“Either in absolute numbers or when weighed as a percentage of deaths, Canada’s MAiD program is by far the world’s fastest-growing assisted-dying program,” said the report, adding it had outpaced other programs started much earlier than Canada’s.

The report said the Netherlands has a comparable system to Canada’s.

“In 2013, thirty-two years after the country’s effective decriminalization, the percentage of total deaths crossed the 3 percent bar,” said the report. “Canada crossed the 3 percent threshold just six years after legalization. No jurisdiction with an assisted-dying program other than Canada and the Netherlands has crossed the 3 percent threshold. In the seventh year of its legalization, Canada crossed the 4 percent line.”

The report concluded by saying the Canadian government underestimated how many people would use the medically-assisted death program.

“Intentionally, Canada is increasingly an outlier, as the world’s fastest-growing assisted-dying program and heading toward further liberalization of the eligibility criteria,” said the report. “It is difficult to understand how the Government of Canada continues to claim that the rate of MAiD in Canada is similar to rates in other jurisdictions.”