An 84-year-old Canadian woman says she was offered assisted suicide in an emergency room before doctors had even determined the cause of her pain.
Miriam Lancaster recalls how she woke up in severe, unexplained back pain. Concerned, her daughter called an ambulance, and she was taken to Vancouver General Hospital for treatment.
According to Miriam, shortly after arriving at the emergency department, her interaction with medical staff took an unexpected turn. “Moments after they wheeled me into the emergency ward, a young female doctor approached my bed”, Miriam said. “After running through the usual questions about what was hurting and how much, she said, as casually as one might offer a cup of tea: ‘Do you want MAID?’”
The suggestion left her shaken, particularly as she had not yet received any diagnosis. “I was stunned. No one had even told me what was wrong with me. All I knew was that I was in tremendous pain and that a stranger had just suggested I might want to end my life”, she said.
Miriam made it clear that ending her life was not something she had been considering. “I was taken aback. That was the last thing on my mind, I just wanted to find out why I was in pain – I did not want to die”, she stated.
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