Assisted deaths up nearly 50% in Alberta

CALGARY The number of physicianassisted deaths in Alberta is up nearly 50 per cent so far this year over last, says Alberta Health Services.

Until the end of July, there were 172 of the deaths in the province, putting Alberta on pace to record about 300 of the procedures that were first conducted in Canada in 2016.

In 2017, there was a total of 205 physician-assisted deaths and since 2016, at least 440 Albertans have died with the assistance of physicians.

It’s difficult to pinpoint a reason for the increased numbers, but it’s a pattern seen in other places that legally allow such procedures to end the suffering of those who consent to it, said Dr. Jim Silvius, who oversees Alberta’s program.

“When you look at the history of assisted dying, you get an initial blip up, it settles down and takes some time for them to begin to grow,” he said.

“It goes that way wherever there’s assisted death ... I suspect we’ll see sustained growth but that’s just a guess.”

He also said an Ontario court ruling last year involving a woman known as AB clarified the federal legislation’s “reasonably foreseeable” death criteria for candidates and could have led to a wider consideration among physicians.

“The focus is not necessarily on the diagnosis, you have to look at the totality of what’s happening to the individual,” said Silvius.

“As a provider community, we’ve been impacted by that.”

Critics of the approach have warned it erodes the value of life, leading to abuses.

But Silvius said the number of physician-assisted deaths in Alberta remains a tiny portion of overall mortality and that safeguards outlining a requirement that those seeking it must already be facing a “reasonably foreseeable” death remain.

In anything, he said, AHS officials face frustration from individuals and families who insist controls are too strict and lack compassion.

By the end of last June, 122 people had been rejected for physician-assisted death.

Proponents of a more liberal approach contend directives drawn up well before death by those who then lose mental competency should be honoured, something law makers fear could be abused by those seeking inheritance.

One of those activists is Shanaaz Gokool, who was with AB during her medically-assisted death on Aug. 2, 2017.

A report on those currently refused doctor-assisted deaths on criteria of mental health, dementia, advanced directives or youthful age is due to be delivered to the federal government in December.

But the court case won by AB, who suffered chronic pain from osteoarthritis, has benefited others seeking such an exit from life.

“That decision has certainly reverberated ... it’s given a lot of clinicians comfort but not enough,” said Gokool.

“AB could have lived for 10 more years but in a lot of pain, but it doesn’t address someone who’s going to live for 20 or 30 years.”