Disability is “a remarkably common characteristic” among those dying by MAiD, report finds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 September, 2025
OTTAWA – Although the courts, in Carter v Canada (Attorney General), expected that euthanasia and assisted suicide (MAiD) could be legalized without putting Canadians living with vulnerabilities at undue risk, the Canadian data actually shows a disproportionate impact on Canadians living with disabilities. That’s according to the Cardus report In Contrast to Carter: Assisted Dying’s Impact on Canadians with Disabilities by Alexander Raikin, a visiting fellow in bioethics at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and an investigative journalist.
“This report’s findings are contrary to the assumptions by Canadian courts and the claims frequently made by cabinet ministers and Parliament,” writes Raikin. “It corroborates, instead, concerns shared previously and repeatedly by disability activists and groups, including testimony ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court in Carter.”
The report compares the international evidence accepted in 2012 by the British Columbia Supreme Court in Carter, which the Supreme Court of Canada subsequently upheld and affirmed, with evidence from the nearly 10 years of MAiD in Canada:
Canadians with Physical Disabilities
Expectation
The trial judge concluded in Carter that “there is no evidence that persons with disabilities are at heightened risk of accessing physician-assisted dying in jurisdictions where it is permitted.”
Reality
• From 2019 to 2023, 42 percent of all MAiD deaths involved people needing disability supports, including more than 1,017 who never received those supports.
• In Ontario in 2023, people with disabilities were the most likely people to die via MAiD.
• Since patients in most Canadian provinces are usually eligible for palliative care services only during the last six months of natural life expectancy, Canadians with physical disabilities are possibly accessing MAiD before they can even avail themselves of end-of-life care.
Canadians with Mental Illness
Expectation
The trial judge expressed confidence that safeguards would mitigate the risk that mental illnesses, especially depression, could pose to Canadians’ MAiD decision-making.
Reality
• A study of MAiD deaths between 2016 and 2019 at a tertiary care centre in Toronto found that 39 percent of those requesting MAiD had a documented psychiatric condition, most commonly depression.
• Patients with a psychiatric condition were much more likely to have requested MAiD than those without one.
Canadians with Psychosocial Suffering
Expectation
The trial judge accepted evidence from Oregon and the Netherlands suggesting that people who feel like “a burden” on others are not likely to face pressure or coercion to end their lives via MAiD. Likewise, the judge expected that professionals would protect lonely or socially isolated patients from abuse in choosing MAiD.
Reality
• Canadian MAiD providers report that almost 50 percent of the patients they helped die in 2023 reported feeling they were a burden on others – up 10 percent from the previous year.
• In 2023, loneliness was a source of suffering more 22 percent of people who died via MAiD, up 5 percent from the previous year.
Canadians with Neurological Conditions
Expectation
Degenerative neurological illnesses, such as dementia, pose significant risks for patient coercion toward MAiD, but the trial judge ultimately counted on doctors to “apply a very high level of scrutiny” to requests in order to prevent abuse.
Reality
• Health Canada’s annual reports show that MAiD deaths of persons with dementia have increased dramatically in Canada.
• In 2023, a degenerative neurological illness was a qualifying factor in almost 15% of Canadian MAiD deaths.
Proportion of Requests that Result in Death
Expectation
The trial judge assumed that “a rigorous standard of scrutiny” would lead to a low percentage of acceptance of MAiD requests in Canada.
Reality
• Almost 80 percent of MAiD requests in Canada are approved.
“The courts expected MAiD would include robust protections for vulnerable Canadians and have minimal impacts on them, dismissing evidence to the contrary,” says Rebecca Vachon, health program director for Cardus. “But instead, Canada has created virtual MAiD on demand with vulnerable Canadians in particular danger of a premature death.”
The data used in In Contrast to Carter are taken from interim and annual Health Canada reports (2016 to 2023), annual reports from the independent monitoring authority of Quebec for end-of-life (2016 to 2023 fiscal years), peer-reviewed medical studies, the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario’s internal summary of the 2023 Ontario data, and the resulting public reports of the MAiD Death Review Committee established by the Coroner’s office.
In Contrast to Carter: Assisted Dying’s Impact on Canadians with Disabilities is freely available on the Cardus website.
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