5 hours agoShareSaveFergus WalshMedical editorCamilla HorroxGlobal health producerShareSaveBBCApril Hubbard sits on the theatre stage where she plans to die later this year.She is not terminally ill, but the 39-year-old performance and burlesque artist has been approved for assisted dying under Canada’s increasingly liberal laws.Warning: This article contains details and descriptions some readers may find disturbingShe is speaking to BBC News from the Bus Stop Theatre, an intimate auditorium with a little under 100 seats, in the eastern city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.Illuminated by a single spotlight on a stage she has performed on many times before, she tells me she plans to die here “within months” of her imminent 40th birthday. She’ll be joined by a small group of her family and friends.April plans to be in a “big comfy bed” for what she calls a “celebratory” moment when a medical professional will inject a lethal dose into her bloodstream.”I want to be surrounded by the people I love and just have everybody hold me in a giant cuddle puddle and get to take my last breath, surrounded by love and support,” she says.April was born with spina bifida and was later diagnosed with tumours at the base of her spine which she says have left her in constant, debilitating pain.She’s been taking strong opioid painkillers for more than 20 years and applied for Medical Assistance in Dying (Maid) in March 2023. While she could yet live for decades with her condition, she qualified to end her life early seven months after applying. For those who are terminally ill it is possible to get approval within 24 hours.”My suffering and pain are increasing and I don’t have the quality of life anymore that makes me happy and fulfilled,” April says. Every time she moves or breathes, she says it feels like the tissues from the base of her spine “are being pulled like a rubber band that stretches too far”, and that her lower limbs leave her in agony.We meet April as, almost 3,000 miles away, MPs are scrutinising proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. They voted in principle in support of those plans in November 2024, but months of detailed scrutiny have followed – and further votes in the Commons and Lords are required before the bill could possibly become law.This week, the BBC witnessed a man’s death in California, where assisted dying laws are far more similar to those being considered in Westminster.Critics say Canada is an example of the “slippery slope”, meaning that once you pass an assisted dying law it will inevitably widen its scope and have fewer safeguards.Canada now has one of the most liberal systems of assisted dying in the world, similar to that operating in the Netherlands and Belgium. It introduced Maid in 2016, initially for terminally ill adults with a serious and incurable physical illness, which causes intolerable suffering. In 2021, the need to be terminally ill was removed, and in two years’ time, the Canadian government plans to open Maid to adults solely with a mental illness and no physical ailment.Opponents of Maid tell us that death is coming to be seen as a standard treatment option for those with disabilities and complex medical problems.”It is easier in Canada to get medical assistance in dying than it is to get government support to live,” says Andrew Gurza, a disability awareness consultant and friend of April’s.Andrew, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, says he respects April’s decision, but tells us: “If my disability declines and my care needs got higher, I’d still want to be here. To know there’s a law that’s saying you could easily end your life – it’s just really scary.”Before she was approved for Maid, April was assessed by two independent physicians who were required to inform her of ways to alleviate her suffering and offer alternative treatments.”The safeguards are there,” she says, when we press her about disabled people who feel threatened by assisted dying, or whether Maid is being used as a shortcut to better quality care. “If it’s not right for you and you’re not leading the charge and choosing Maid, you’re not going to be able to access it unless it’s for the right reasons,” she adds.There were 15,343 Maid deaths in 2023, representing around one in 20 of all deaths in Canada – a proportion that has increased dramatically since 2016 and is one of the highest in the world. The average age of recipients was 77.In all but a handful of cases, the lethal dose was delivered by a doctor or nurse, which is also known as voluntary euthanasia. One doctor we spoke to, Eric Thomas, said he had helped 577 patients to die.Dr Konia Trouton, president of the Canadian Association of Maid Assessors and Providers, has also helped hundreds of patients to die since the law was introduced.The procedure is the …
