A Canadian judge has blocked the euthanasia bid of a woman who wants to die because she is bipolar.
Judge Simon R. Coval signed a court order Saturday that halted the anonymous woman’s wishes just a day before she was set to die, claiming she is ineligible, according to a lawsuit obtained by CTV News Vancouver.
The woman, 53, traveled to British Columbia from another western province to seek Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID), according to the court order application completed by the common-law partner of an unnamed woman.
Court records showed the woman had been diagnosed with rapid cycling bipolar disorder 2, initially seeking MAID for akathisia – a condition linked to dosage changes in antipsychotics and psychotic medications.
After lowering her high dose of Quetiapine – an antipsychotic drug that treats bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression – the woman began “describing painful side effects,” leading her to “express her wish to die.”
Because the judge denied her request, Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a doctor who works with Dying With Dignity – a “national human rights organization committed to improving the quality of dying” – and other doctors are prevented from “causing death ‘. of the woman “by MAID or other means,” documents showed.
A 53-year-old woman has been denied the chance to die by euthanasia after a Canadian judge blocked her just a day before her scheduled procedure (stock image)
Because the judge denied her request, Dr. Ellen Wiebe (pictured), who signed off on the woman’s procedure, and prevented other doctors from “causing the woman’s death” through MAID or any other means.
The legal filing was accompanied by a civil claim alleging that Wiebe approved the procedure for a patient who is legally ineligible.
“If Defendants proceed with MAID, the death will constitute battery of (the patient), a wrongful death, and potentially a criminal offense,” said the claim, reviewed by the newspaper.
‘It is within the inherent jurisdiction of this honorable court to impose alleged criminal conduct, in this case the termination of a patient’s life when it appears that the legal criteria have not been met, and/or the protection of a patient from damage.’ continued.
When the woman’s journey first began, she decided to do her own research after her own doctors wouldn’t approve her for MAID, according to documents.
“She eventually found Dr. Ellen Wiebe,” the filing said.
The woman also had several Zoom meetings with Wiebe, who “approved” the patients after the initial meeting ended,” the filing said.
The claim states that the woman’s bipolar diagnosis does not qualify her for medically assisted death under Track 2 MAID.
Under Track 2 MAID, people with disabilities can be offered assisted suicide if their death is ‘not reasonably foreseeable’, according to Inclusion Alberta.
The woman has experienced a series of frightening symptoms, including “the horrors of an inner sense of anxiety all day long, the inability to sleep at night, nightmares, the inability to lie down during the day due to the feeling of falling, the inability sitting or remaining still, thoughts of suicide,” the petition said.
Her symptoms have led the woman to want to die, even though she doesn’t want to, because she has “regularly begged (her partner) to end her life.”
Just eleven days before her medically assisted death was to occur, she and her partner consulted doctors in their province and were told that her condition and symptoms were treatable.
“If Defendants proceed with MAID, the death will constitute battery on (the patient), a wrongful death, and potentially a criminal offense,” the claim states.
‘In this case, (the woman) actively pursues death, despite the objections of the doctors who are actively treating her.
“She came to BC because she found someone in BC who would agree,” the application said.
It added that the woman’s case “raises serious questions” about whether she “in fact qualifies for MAID Track 2.”
‘Of particular concern is that akathisia appears to be a cluster of symptoms related to the changes in the use of medications used to treat a psychiatric condition. It is treatable, but (the woman) has not followed treatment recommendations,” it detailed.
The legal fillings have also called into question the process by which she was approved for MAID.
From February 2024, the country expanded the temporary exclusion to qualify for MAID in circumstances where a person’s only underlying medical condition is a mental health condition,” the Government of Canada.
People with disabilities will become eligible in March 2027.
Patients eligible for MAID must have “a serious and irreversible medical condition,” or an incurable disease that will result in death.
They must also have a condition that “causes them to endure physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be resolved under conditions they consider acceptable.”
Documents revealed that the woman’s partner reportedly asked for her akathisia to be classified as “irremediable,” while also questioning Wiebe’s willingness to sign off on her procedure.
‘(The partner) asked Dr. Wiebe whether she had ever performed MAID on someone with akathisia. Dr. Wiebe said no,” the application message said.
“During the same Zoom session, (the partner) also attempted to describe (the woman) as a person with unresolved mental health issues that were likely not taken into account during the MAID investigation.
‘Dr. Wiebe responded by stating that the diagnosis does not matter, and that only the quality of life matters, and that (the woman) was right.’
The lawsuit also alleged that Wiebe did not speak directly to the patient’s other doctors, did not request any medical records and only reviewed some of her records by email.
Track 2 cases require two doctor’s opinions, but according to the lawsuit, that did not happen for this woman.
‘[The woman] did not have a doctor who would provide the second assessment. Dr. Wiebe arranged it [another B.C.-based doctor] to be the second reviewer,” the documents shared, adding that they only met via Zoom.
The filling alleged that the woman’s doctor also obtained her own witness to see the patient’s MAID paperwork being signed.
Taken together, the lawsuit is “an attempt to address potentially serious deficiencies in the application of the MAID regime,” according to court documents.
None of the allegations have been brought to trial. DailyMail.com contacted Wiebe for comment.