Canadian court rules against father, says 27-year-old daughter’s assisted suicide can take place

A Canadian court has ruled against a father who sought to block his 27-year-old daughter’s death by assisted suicide.

The father argued that his adult daughter, who is autistic, did not have the ability to fully consent to the doctor-assisted death under Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) programme. The young woman was approved for MAID in December. During the case, she did not file any court documents explaining how she came to qualify for MAID.

The parent has argued that his daughter is vulnerable and “not competent to make the decision to take her life,” with the judge stating in his summary that the father “says she is generally healthy.”

He believes that her physical symptoms, “to the extent that she has any, result from undiagnosed psychological conditions.”

The 27-year-old’s only diagnoses described in court this month are autism and ADHD.

A judge in the Canadian city of Calgary ruled on Monday that “dignity and the right to self-determination” on the part of the young adult outweighed the parent’s concerns.

The judge declined to issue an injunction that would prevent the woman from going ahead with her approved MAID, which had been temporarily blocked because of the court action.

The case, which has highlighted family members’ limited ability to intervene, saw the father, who is from Alberta and lives with his daughter, argue that the young woman is not eligible due to her mental health issues and autism.

While the father sought a judicial review of the case, the judge also refused to order a review of how the woman was able to obtain MAID.

A publication ban has protected the identities of the parties involved, along with medical professionals – with the daughter identified as M.V., while the father is referred to in the case as W.V.

Lawyer Austin Paladeau, representing the young women, said that the father’s love for his daughter “does not give him the right to keep her alive against her wishes,” and said the case centred on his client’s right to medical autonomy.

Justice Colin Feasby, ruling in the case on Monday, acknowledged rhe “profound grief” that W.V would suffer because of the death of his child – however came to the decision that the daughter’s “right to self-determination” was more important.

In a 34-page written judgement, Justice Feasby wrote: “M.V.’s dignity and right to self-determination outweighs the important matters raised by W.V. and the harm that he will suffer in losing M.V.”

“M.V.’s dignity and right to self-determination outweighs the important matters raised by W.V. and the harm that he will suffer in losing M.V.,” he said.

The decision will set aside an interim injunction which was granted to the father, the day before the assisted death was set to take place at the family home on 2 February.

The judge has however issued a 30-day stay of the decision, meaning that the father can take the case to the Alberta Court of Appeal – meaning the injunction stopping the medically assisted death will remain in place for the next month.

Medical Assistance in Dying has been legal under Justin Trudeau’s Canadian administration since 2016. Initially introduced for adults with a terminal illness, the law was changed in 2021 to include those with serious and chronic physical conditions – even if that condition was not life-threatening.

It is currently the case that two nurse practitioners or doctors have to approve a patient for MAID. In the case in question, two doctors were initially approached by the young woman, and while one agreed to sign off on approving her MAID request, the other denied the application.

It was a third “tie-breaker” doctor who was offered to M.V, and who signed off on the MAID approval. This doctor “was not independent or objective” in the view of her father.

The father’s lawyer, Sarah Miller, has pointed out that the state of Alberta operates a system where there is no appeal process in place, and where there are no means of reviewing a person’s approval for MAID.

Canada’s law regarding assisted suicide has been described as a “free for all,” with the country having one of the highest rates of euthanasia in the world. 4.1 per cent of deaths in the country are now medically-assisted, with concern mounting over moves to make MAID accessible to those suffering from mental illnesses.

In 2016, it was promised that assisted dying would be limited to “the incurably ill, requires medical approval and mandates a 15-day waiting period,”

The Canadian government’s Bill, passed in 2016, was reported to include “strict criteria” that patients ust meet before obtaining a doctor’s help in dying.

The Bill meant that a patient must be eligible for government-funded health care (a requirement limiting assisted suicides to Canadians and permanent residents, to prevent suicide tourism); “be a mentally competent adult 18 or older.”; “have a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability,” and “be in an advanced state of irreversible decline,’ with enduring and intolerable suffering.”

Five years later, the Canadian parliament enacted Bill C-7, which repealed the “reasonably foreseeable” requirement in the law and the requirement that the illness had to be “terminal.” The law was amended so that anyone suffering from an illness or disability which “cannot be relieved under conditions that you consider acceptable” could access MAID for free.

The country is now considering whether to expand the practice even further, to include people suffering solely from mental illness. Prime Minister Trudeau’s liberal government announced on 1 February that it had introduced legislation to postpone the expansion of the law for three years.

The expansion is now scheduled to go into effect on 17 March 2027, with the country’s bishops warning that the government is still unwavering in its commitment to the legislation.

“The federal government’s decision to simply postpone legislation that would broaden the eligibility for ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’, which is assisted suicide or euthanasia, to persons suffering solely from mental illness, is not good news,” Bishop William McGrattan of Calgary told Crux in a statement.

“Despite the opposition that has been voiced by mental health practitioners, disability groups, faith communities, and even several provincial Ministers of Health, the federal government remains fully committed to implementing this legislation, which received Royal Assent on 9 March 2023,” the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said.