Advocates Question BC’s MAID Oversight After FOI Reveals Policy Against ‘Overly Strict’ Infractions Referrals

A patient has his hand held at a hospital, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/David Joles-Star Tribune via AP

Euthanasia prevention advocates say a B.C. government document that discourages strictly applying oversight measures for medical assistance in dying (MAID) providers who commit infractions raises questions about the system’s ability to protect ineligible patients.

Alicia Duncan, a euthanasia prevention advocate whose mother died through MAID in B.C. in 2021, says oversight must protect from “unlawful death” rather than “shield providers from scrutiny.”