OTTAWA — More than 15,000 people received medical assistance in dying in Canada in 2023, but federal statistics show the growth in cases has slowed significantly.
Health Canada said in its fifth annual report on MAID released Wednesday that the 15,343 people who received help to die last year represented a 15.8 per cent increase from 2022.
That's about half the average annual growth rate of 31 per cent from 2019 to 2022, but the report said it cannot draw "reliable conclusions" about whether the slower increase in demand indicates a "stabilization" of the number of cases over the long term.
"An increased awareness of MAID within the care continuum, population aging and the associated patterns of illness or disease, personal beliefs and societal acceptance, as well as the availability of practitioners who provide MAID may all influence the number of provisions," the report said.
"It will take several more years before trends related to overall demand can be conclusively identified."
Health Canada said 19,660 people asked for MAID in 2023, but 2,906 died before their requests could be fulfilled while 915 applicants were deemed ineligible and 496 withdrew their requests.
The report said natural death was "reasonably foreseeable" in about 96 per cent of people who went on to receive MAID, the median age of recipients was about 78, and cancer was the most frequently cited medical condition, at 64 per cent.
Health Canada said Wednesday's report was the first to track the race, ethnicity or cultural identity of MAID recipients.
The statistics show that 96 per cent of recipients identified as Caucasian, while East Asian was the second-most prevalent ethnic identity, at 1.8 per cent.
"Given both the data limitations … and the relative homogeneity of the responses provided, it is not possible to undertake more meaningful analysis with respect to potential differences with respect to the provision of MAID according to racial or ethnic identity," the report said.
The data also broke down the number of assisted dying recipients by province, with Quebec having the highest number of cases at 5,601, or 36.5 per cent of the total number of people getting MAID.
There were 4,644 cases in Ontario and 2,759 in British Columbia.
"MAID was administered by a practitioner in nearly all cases," the report said, noting the practice of self-administration is only illegal in Quebec. "In 2023, MAID was self-administered in fewer than five instances … very few people have chosen this option since 2016."
Medically assisted death in Canada is only legal for people on the basis of a physical health condition, but federal Health Minister Mark Holland has said Ottawa is looking into the feasibility of expanding the regime to include advance requests.
Quebec announced in October that people who have conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease will be able to request MAID before their mental capacity declines.
Applicants whose medical condition is mental illness remain ineligible for the service, with eligibility delayed until at least March 2027.
In October, a judge in B.C. granted an urgent injunction that stopped a 53-year-old Alberta woman's medically assisted death one day before the procedure was scheduled to take place in Vancouver.
The woman had been denied MAID in Alberta but found a practitioner in Vancouver who approved it. The application for the urgent injunction said approval was given without consulting the patient's other doctors.
Justice Simon R. Coval said in his decision that the woman, whose identity is protected by the court, appeared to have a mental health condition with no physical ailment.
— Chuck Chiang in Vancouver
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press
