Quebec remains the leader in medical assisted dying

Posted On: October 25, 2023

Quebec remains by far the province where the most medical assisted dying (MAiD) is practiced, according to the latest data released Tuesday by Health Canada.

In 2022, 4,801 Quebecers received MAID, a 46% increase in just one year.

MAID has become the cause of death for 6.6% of Quebec’s population in 2022, a rate unprecedented in other provinces. Instead, the Canadian average is 4.1% of deaths attributed to MAID.

For comparison, fewer Quebec residents have died from a nervous system disease such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s (4,031) than MAIDs conducted in the province, according to the Quebec Institute of Statistics (ISQ). Individually, no cancer comes close to the number of MAs performed, with the exception of lung cancer, which killed more than 6,000 patients last year.

The province of La Belle alone represents just over 36% of the 13,241 AMMs conducted in Canada in 2022, even though Quebecers make up only 22% of the Canadian population.

The only province that followed the Quebec trend, British Columbia, with just under 14% of Canada’s population, recorded 2,515 MAIDs in 2022, representing 19% of the assistance provided in Canada.

“As in each of the last three years (2019 to 2021), Quebec and British Columbia recorded the highest percentage of deaths attributed to medical assistance in dying compared to the total number of deaths registered in their territory in 2022 (6.6% and 5.5%). “This continues to reflect the socio-political dynamics of these two provinces surrounding medical assisted dying,” Health Canada noted in its report.

According to the ISQ, whose data differs somewhat from Health Canada’s, “the vast majority of people receiving MAID through December 31, 2022 were 60 years and older (91%),” had cancer (69%). and had a vital illness.” The prognosis was three months or less (69%) and they suffered both physically and psychologically (93%).

With the abolition of the end-of-life criterion provided for in the medical assistance in dying law passed in 2016, as of January 31, 2022, 70 Quebecers have received MAID, even if they have not yet reached the end of life. “The majority of people had Lewy body disease (36%) or Alzheimer’s disease (30%),” the ISQ said.