Premier Scott Moe is urging a Saskatchewan woman with a rare disease not to go through with medically assisted death, but to continue working with the provincial health-care system for solutions.
Regina resident Jolene Van Alstine has a rare form of parathyroid disease called normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism, and has had three surgeries but still needs specialized care to remove an overactive parathyroid gland. Her condition comes with symptoms like extreme bone pain, daily nausea and vomiting, and overheating, as well as anxiety and depression due to social isolation.
She has said she is considering Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) because she is unable to have surgery in the province. She also says she has been unable to obtain a referral for out-of-province surgery from any endocrinologists, as none are accepting new patients. Her MAID appointment is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2026.
Moe said medical professionals have since been engaged to work with her.
“There has been an opportunity to see specialists in Saskatchewan and outside of Saskatchewan, and those conversations about maybe potentially seeing additional specialists continue with the minister’s office and the Ministry of Health,” he said in response to a reporter’s question during a Dec. 11 news conference.
“I would hope that she'd continue to work with the Ministry of Health, because I think there’s work going on to see even additional specialists at this point.”
MAID Legislation
The Liberal government introduced its euthanasia regime in 2016, following a Supreme Court ruling that said the lack of such a program violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The program was initially for those whose death was foreseeable, but has since been expanded to those whose deaths are not “reasonably foreseeable.”The federal government had planned to further expand MAID criteria in 2023, permitting mental illness as a sole factor for eligibility, but this has been delayed until at least 2027 over concerns the health-care system is not equipped to manage such cases.
Canada has some of the most liberal MAID laws in the world, and has sparked controversy over some incidents, including military veterans reporting they were offered MAID unprompted by Veterans Affairs employees when they called the department for support. A Veterans Affairs investigation in 2023 found that MAID had been inappropriately offered in four incidents, and said the agent involved was no longer employed with the department.
Other incidents involving those with income and affordability concerns seeking MAID have brought further controversy to Canada’s euthanasia laws. In one case, an Ontario man sought MAID in 2022 to avoid homelessness, but later changed his mind.
The Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying, released in November, said that 16,499 people received MAID in 2024, which was a 6.9 percent increase from the previous year.
The report also said that MAID accounted for 5.1 percent of all deaths in Canada in 2024, which was 0.4 percent higher than in 2023.
