72 assisted deaths in six months on Island

Demand is rising steadily in region, new report says

Two per cent of dying individuals on Vancouver Island chose medically assisted deaths in the first six months after it was made legal, and the rate is climbing, according to a case review.

Data collected for the period from June to December 2016 shows there were 72 medically assisted deaths in patients aged 49 to 96, according to the report in the B.C. Medical Journal. Patients were balanced in terms of gender; of the 72 cases, 47 were male and 35 were female.

Most patients chose their homes for such deaths (64 per cent) followed by acute-care hospitals (21 per cent), hospices (12 per cent) and residential care (three per cent.) Island Health and other authorities have developed policies for admission to hospital specifically for medical assistance in dying, or MAID, when patients can’t access such assistance where they live.

Many faith-based hospitals and residential care facilities do not permit MAID and insist on transfers. Article co-author Dr. Jonathan Reggler resigned from the ethics committee of St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox because of the hospital’s prohibition on MAID.

The majority of patients in the case review had cancer, at 57 per cent.

Other patients in the review suffered organ failure (25 per cent), neurodegenerative diseases (11 per cent) and other unspecified conditions (seven per cent).

The vast majority of patients (96 per cent) were given intravenous medications, while the remainder swallowed pills.

There are about three dozen doctors who have received MAID training on Vancouver Island.

The six-month sum (72) reported in the case review varies slightly from information reported by Island Health, which stated that 77 people on Vancouver Island had medically assisted deaths in the last half of 2016.

Vancouver Island appears to have the highest number of MAID cases of all health regions, and B.C. appears to lead all provinces. According to news reports, at the time of the first-year anniversary last month, Vancouver Island had recorded 186 MAID deaths, the vast majority in the south Island region where most of the doctors providing the service live.

The first year sum represents two per cent of all deaths on Vancouver Island. The jurisdiction would likely have more MAID cases, but for each assisted death performed, between five and 10 patients are deemed ineligible, according to previous reports.

Authors of the BCMJ article say demand is rising steadily for medically assisted deaths.

“While the data we have gathered do not provide an explanation for the large number of cases relative to population size on Vancouver Island, this is likely the result of demographic factors,” the article says.

They cite education, a high proportion of older citizens, socio-economics and the greater awareness of assisted death issues because of so many high profile cases and associated media coverage.

The authors conclude access to MAID is neither uniform nor sufficient to meet demand, and “there is a need for co-ordination in all aspects of provision, data-gathering and governance.”