Most people who used medical assistance in dying in 2024 were suffering from cancer and aged over 70, according to new data from Health Canada.
Health Canada’s annual report on medical assistance in dying (MAID) reveals that an increasing number of Canadians use it each year.
In total, 76,475 people have benefited from MAID since its legalization in 2016.
In 2024, 16,499 people received MAID, representing approximately 5% of all deaths in Canada.
This figure is up 6.9% compared to 2023, the year when 15,343 people used assisted death. The number of MAID cases increased by 15.8% between 2022 and 2023.
Furthermore, 4,017 people who requested medical assistance in dying in 2024 died before receiving it, and 1,327 requests were deemed ineligible.
To qualify, a person must suffer from “serious and irremediable health problems.”
The report highlights some trends in who chooses MAID and why.
The median age of people who opted for medical assistance in dying last year was 77.9 years. Cancer was the most frequently cited medical condition, affecting more than 63% of those who received this assistance. The most common types of cancer were lung, colorectal, pancreatic, and hematologic cancers.
Approximately 450 people who received medical assistance in dying had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), a neurodegenerative disease.
Approximately 74% of people who received MAID first had access to palliative care.
Health Canada also analyzed the socioeconomic status of people who received MAID and found that “people receiving MAID are not disproportionately from low-income or disadvantaged communities.”
The study found that people using MAID were less likely to live in remote areas, which the report said could reflect difficulties accessing health services in these areas.
“Overall, the report suggests that eligible people across Canada have appropriate access to this end-of-life option and that the data does not support claims of disproportionate access for disadvantaged people,” said Helen Long, executive director of the advocacy organization Dying with Dignity Canada.
More than 95% of people who benefited from an assisted death last year suffered from a condition making their death “reasonably foreseeable”, the report said.
Only 4.4% belonged to “path 2” of AMM, i.e. people whose death was not considered foreseeable, but who claimed to be suffering intolerably.
A legal process since 2021
MAID has been legal since 2021 for people whose death was not reasonably foreseeable.
For these patients, a minimum waiting period of 90 days is imposed between the first evaluation and the intervention.
The applicant must be informed of counseling services, mental health support, disability support, community services and palliative care, and must be offered consultations with competent professionals.
According to Health Canada’s website, the applicant and two different doctors must also discuss ways to relieve their suffering and “agree that the person has seriously considered these means.”
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released a report last spring saying it was “extremely concerned” about Canada’s policy on Track 2 medical assistance in dying. It questioned whether there were adequate safeguards to support people with disabilities who might feel like they have no other options.
Health Canada found that 0.1% of people who received medical assistance in dying last year, or 163 people, reported needing disability support services and not receiving them. Of these, 149 indicated that they could have accessed these services.
About a third of people who received MAID, or just over 5,300 people, said they needed and received disability support services.
