An Ontario man with a nervous system disease who chose medical assistance in dying (MAID) became a heart donor in the first known case of a heart transplant following euthanasia performed in Canada.
The heart transplant was carried out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a 59-year-old man with worsening heart failure was in urgent need of a transplant. He received a heart from a 38-year-old man who had undergone euthanasia in Ontario, and had conveyed his wish to donate his organs. The 38-year-old had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—a degenerative disease that affects voluntary muscle movement.
The transplant was described in an article published this summer in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation as the first reported case of its kind from a Canadian MAID recipient. The authors noted that while it was the first heart transplant, kidney, liver, and lung transplants from MAID donors have previously been performed….