Shocking Rise: Assisted Dying Now Responsible for 1 in Every 20 Deaths in Canada

According to recent official data, medically assisted dying, sometimes referred to as voluntary euthanasia, was responsible for 4.7% of deaths in Canada in 2023.

According to the nation’s fifth annual report since euthanasia became legal in 2016, around 15,300 persons had assisted suicide last year after their applications were approved. This group’s median age was above 77 years old. Nearly 96% of them died from “reasonably foreseeable” causes, including serious illnesses like cancer.

In the tiny percentage of other cases, patients may not have had a terminal condition, but nonetheless wanted assisted suicide because their quality of life had been greatly affected by a protracted and complex illness.

Only a few nations have passed legislation allowing assisted suicide in the last ten years, including Canada. Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and Austria are among the others.

In Canada, if an adult has a terrible and incurable illness, they can ask a healthcare professional for medical assistance in dying. There are certain rules in place, such as the need for two separate medical professionals to attest to the patient’s eligibility before granting their request.

In 2023, over 320,000 deaths occurred in Canada, with 15,300 of those deaths roughly one in 20 being medically assisted. According to data issued by Health Canada on Wednesday, the number of assisted suicides in Canada rose by almost sixteen percent in 2023.

Compared to the average increase of 31% in prior years, this figure represents a significant decline. It is too early to tell what caused the rate to slow down, the research said.

The report examined racial and ethnic characteristics of euthanasia victims for the first time. Approximately 70% of Canadians are white, and 96% of grantees identified as such.

What caused this discrepancy is unknown. East Asians, who make up around 5.7% of Canadians, were the second largest recorded ethnic group (1.8%).

Despite making up only 22% of Canada’s population, Quebec continued to have the greatest rate of assisted dying use, accounting for almost 37% of all euthanasia deaths.