A Vancouver woman who went to the hospital seeking help for suicidal thoughts has revealed how staff suggested euthanasia – the latest sign that Canada’s assisted suicide program is spiraling out of control.
Kathrin Mentler, 37, who suffers from chronic depression, told The Globe and Mail she went to Vancouver General Hospital in June for help with debilitating feelings of hopelessness and suicidality.
Instead of being offered support, the clinician told her that there was a shortage of psychiatrists in British Columbia’s “fractured” health system.
Instead, she says, she was asked, “Have you considered MAiD?”
Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAiD, has been available in Canada since 2016. It is reserved for adults with a serious and incurable illness or disability. Mental illness has been added to the criteria, but that change will not take effect until 2024.
“How can this be standard procedure for suicide crisis intervention?” asked Kathrin Mentler, 37
Vancouver General Hospital says it followed proper procedures and apologized for the inconvenience caused
Supporters of the program say it helps the sick ease their suffering. Critics say it offers no safeguards and pushes doctors to introduce the procedure to those who wouldn’t otherwise consider it.
Mentler, a first-year counseling student, says her hospital treatment is a sign that the system is not working properly.
“I went there that day very specifically because I didn’t want to get into a situation where I would think about taking a drug overdose,” Mentler told the news outlet.
“The more I think about it, I think it raises more and more ethical and moral questions.”
Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates the hospital, confirmed the discussion took place, but said the topic of MAiD was brought up to assess Mentler’s risk of suicidality — not to suggest that she receive a lethal injection.
Canada has seen steady growth in the number of people ending their lives with MAiD. In British Columbia, the number is up 24 percent from 2,030 cases in 2021 to 2,515 cases last year.
The eligibility rules were supposed to be expanded in March to allow MAiD for people with mental illness as the sole reason, but the federal government sought a one-year pause to allow for further research.
Mentler originally went to the hospital’s Access and Assessment Center, which treats mental health issues and substance abuse, hoping to see a psychiatrist, and was willing to stay overnight if necessary.
She filled out an intake form and was taken to a smaller room where she shared her mental health history and her overwhelming feelings of depression with a doctor.
She was like, ‘I can call the psychiatrist on duty, but there are no beds; there is no availability,” said Mentler.
Last year, about 2,515 people received medical assistance to die (MAiD) in BC, health ministry figures show
“She said to me, ‘The system is broken.’
Then the clinician asked, “Have you ever considered MAID?”
Mentler said she was baffled by the question and had never before considered assisted dying, even though she had tried to overdose on drugs in the past.
The clinician said an overdose at home could lead to brain damage and other damage, while a state-administered MAiD death from benzodiazepines and other sedatives was “more comfortable.”
Mentler says the encounter left her feeling uncomfortable and emotional, and she posted about it on social media.
“Measuring suicide (risk) shouldn’t include offering options to die, as it felt,” she said.
“How can this be standard procedure for suicide crisis intervention?”
She has now received help from another clinic.
Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Jeremy Deutsch says the hospital followed protocols.
“During these types of patient assessments, clinicians often ask difficult questions to determine appropriate care and risk for the patient,” Deutsch told the paper.
“Staff should explore all available care options for the patient, and a clinical evaluation with a client presenting with suicidality may include questions about whether they have considered MAiD.”
He added: “We understand that this conversation may be upsetting to some and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by this incident.”
Duncan’s daughters Christie and Alicia Duncan say doctors should have treated their mother’s mental health and pain issues rather than giving her the go-ahead for assisted suicide
Police launched an investigation last year into the death by euthanasia of Donna Duncan, 61, a nurse and mother
In British Columbia, assisted suicide rose 24 percent last year — what campaigners call an “alarming” sign of the unraveling of euthanasia safeguards in the Canadian province.
About 2,515 people got MAiD in the west coast region, more than the 2,030 who did in 2021, figures from the BC Ministry of Health show.
Mentler’s case isn’t the first to make headlines in the county.
Last year, police in Abbotsford launched an investigation into Donna Duncan’s MAiD death and claims by her daughters that the 61-year-old should not have been cleared because of her mental health issues.
Duncan’s daughters Alicia and Christie asked for the study and said their mother was suffering from depression related to a concussion suffered in a car accident when she applied for MAiD.
Doctors should have focused on treating her pain and mental health issues rather than giving the green light to her euthanasia request, they said. The procedure was carried out in October 2021.
The police investigation has been completed with no arrests.
The Duncan family’s tragedy mirrors the case of Alan Nichols, a 61-year-old BC man with a history of depression who was given the go-ahead for euthanasia based on a single health condition: hearing loss.
Nichols filed for euthanasia and was killed by lethal injection in 2019, despite the concerns of his family and a nursing specialist. His brother, Gary, says he was “actually put to death.”
Many Canadians support euthanasia and the campaign group, Dying With Dignity, says proceedings are “driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and a desire for personal autonomy.”
Canada will record some 13,500 state-sanctioned suicides by 2022, a 34 percent increase from the previous year
Gary Nichols (right), with his brother Alan, on the eve of his euthanasia in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, in July 2019
Canada’s MAiD deaths have steadily increased by about a third per year over the previous year
A poll released in May showed just how widespread support for MAiD had become – more than a quarter of voters believed the poor and homeless should be able to end their lives with MAiD.
Canada is on track to record some 13,500 state-sanctioned suicides by 2022, a 34 percent increase from the previous year, according to a monitoring group’s analysis of official data.
Canada’s path to allowing euthanasia began in 2015, when the Supreme Court declared that banning assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. It gave national leaders a year to draft legislation.
The resulting 2016 law legalized both euthanasia and assisted suicide for people ages 18 and older, provided they met certain conditions: they had to have a serious, advanced condition, illness or disability that caused suffering and threatened their death.
The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, greatly expanding the number of eligible people.
Critics say change has taken away an important safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially decades left to live.
Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease, or disability can seek help when dying.
Euthanasia is legal in seven countries – Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain – plus several states in Australia. It is only available for children in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of U.S. states, allow assisted suicide, where patients take the drug themselves, usually taking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a doctor.
In Canada, both options are referred to as MAiD, although more than 99.9 percent of such procedures are performed by a doctor. The number of MAiD deaths in Canada has steadily increased by about a third per year over the previous year.