A British Columbia family is suing federal and provincial authorities for wrongful death, saying that a mentally ill man received medical assistance in dying (MAID) while on a day pass from a Vancouver psychiatric ward two years ago, despite not being eligible or having the capacity to consent to the procedure.
The family alleges his death was the result of “wrongful actions” by the physicians and institutions involved, as well as “unconstitutional” MAID regulations that lack proper safeguards.
The notice of civil claim was filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 13. The family, a group of five plaintiffs whose names are not disclosed, says that a 52-year-old man who suffered from long-term mental illness and remediable chronic back pain, received approval for assisted dying even though his pain was neither severe nor incurable to make him eligible….