Choosing Death
Designed as a compassionate legal alternative for those facing life with intractable disease, pain and anguish, MAiD’s adoption in Canada has largely been celebrated as a humane and visionary public policy.
Over ten thousand Canadians ended their lives through medical assistance in 2021, the highest-ever total in the history of the program and a third of all cases since the program started in 2016.
But a growing chorus of critics are calling the application of the law a grim solution that provides suicide as a way to avoid falling through Canada’s shredded social safety net.
Choosing Death
Michael’s choice
Michael Fraser was not terminally ill. But a constellation of factors – intractable disease, poverty, childhood sexual trauma, mental health challenges and the option of an assisted death – made him question whether his life was one worth continuing to live. For Fraser, death was ultimately preferrable.
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Ann Fraser stands inside her apartment with one of the last pictures taken of her with her husband Michael before he pursued medical assistance in dying. PAIGE TAYLOR WHITE / TORONTO STAR
Michael’s choice: The ethics of medical assistance in dying
A joint investigation between the Toronto Star and the Investigative Journalism Bureau followed the life — and death — of Michael Fraser to offer a glimpse into the complexity and ethics of Canada’s legislation around medically assistance in dying, and those that believe it is their only option.
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Michael Fraser ended his life via medically assisted suicide on Saturday July 2, 2022. Though he has a grave medical condition that doctors agreed made him suitable for MAID, Cribb is also talking to Fraser about to what degree the man's socio conomic hardships have factored into his decision. He is seen in his apartment with his girlfriend Ann Barry on June 30, 2022. RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR
Is Canada expanding Medical Assistance in Dying too quickly?
The IJB’s Robert Cribb joins the Toronto Star podcast "It’s Political" to discuss Canada’s expanding MAiD legislation and the story of Michael Fraser.
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Michael Fraser chose to end his life at age 55. He wasn’t terminally ill, Andrew Phillips writes — he was unable to pay his rent and get outside. How is this remotely acceptable? RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
We’re all implicated in Michael Fraser’s decision to die
OPINION: Fraser chose to end his life at age 55. He wasn’t terminally ill — he was unable to pay his rent and get outside. How is this remotely acceptable?
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