A good death: Year over year, more New Brunswickers seek medical assistance in dying

Rachel Cave · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

Around 10:45 on the greeting of Feb. 25, Lee Goguen asked her begetter if helium had immoderate past requests.

The decease that was coming to 70-year-old Gerald Goguen was the decease helium had chosen weeks successful beforehand and his woman of 41 years had chosen to spell with him.   

Diagnosed with prostate crab successful 2008, Gerald's wellness had started to deteriorate sharply successful the months starring up to Christmas. Coby Goguen, 62, besides had crab that had dispersed and eaten into her bones. Both were racked with symptom and wanted out. 

Lee said she wanted to spot her parents relieved of their suffering and was grateful they had the enactment to extremity their lives connected their ain terms.   

"I got a batch of closure from it," Lee said. "It gave maine the encouragement to accidental the things that mightiness person gone unsaid."

Medical assistance successful dying present accounts for astir 1 successful 20 deaths successful Canada, and request successful New Brunswick has been climbing twelvemonth implicit year. 

Lee said she wasn't truthful definite astir MAID erstwhile the process became ineligible successful 2016, but her parents helped alteration her mind. In their last days successful hospital, Lee asked their support to talk publically astir it.   

With minutes to spell earlier a sedative would enactment them to slumber and a 2nd medicine would induce a coma, Gerald asked to hear I Love You by the Climax Blues Band, a tune that was played connected his wedding day. The vinyl grounds was backmost connected the support successful the Goguens'  location connected Saint John's eastbound side, but Lee had downloaded it to her telephone and she played it for them. 

"My ma said, 'I haven't heard that successful forever,'" Lee said.

It had been a deed successful 1981, erstwhile Gerald joined the astir beauteous pistillate helium said he'd ever seen. Lee is convinced that's inactive however Gerald saw Coby arsenic helium gazed astatine his woman lying adjacent to him successful her infirmary bed. 

WATCH | 'I person ne'er experienced a decease wherever I person had this overmuch closure': 

"Mom conscionable leaned backmost and listened to the music," Lee said. "And Dad, helium didn't halt looking astatine her. He was conscionable truthful successful love." 

New Brunswick's 2 wellness networks person reported a dilatory but dependable summation successful MAID applications implicit the past 5 years. The Vitalité Health Network says requests for MAID much than doubled, from 105 requests successful 2020 to 216 successful 2024. 

"It's conscionable been a continual summation successful demand," said Horizon's palliative attraction doc Dr. Julia Wildish.

"I deliberation initially everyone was a spot leery of the idea. It was benignant of a caller conception to radical and benignant of creepy maybe. But I deliberation implicit time, radical are much acquainted with it. They cognize idiosyncratic who's had it. They've had clip to wrapper their heads astir the full idea, and it's conscionable not arsenic scary."

While Lee was 1 of the aboriginal skeptics, her parent was not, having watched her ain begetter endure for astir a decennary with an unwellness that near him incapable to admit his family. 

"Mom ever told us, if I ever get similar that, propulsion the plug," Lee said. "Because backmost then, determination was nary enactment for aesculapian assistance successful dying." 

Lee said her parents were thoroughly assessed arsenic candidates for MAID earlier they got approval.

Canadian instrumentality requires two independent aesculapian practitioners — they tin beryllium physicians oregon caregiver practitioners — to measure patients implicit a minimum play of 90 days. 

That play tin beryllium shortened successful circumstantial circumstances wherever some assessors hold the diligent is astatine imminent hazard of losing capableness to consent. 

"You person to beryllium successful an precocious authorities of functional decline, and you person to person intolerable suffering that can't beryllium relieved by immoderate means acceptable to the patient," Wildish said. 

Since 2021, the instrumentality successful Canada has allowed for 2 tracks of MAID patients.

Track 1 patients person a reasonably foreseeable earthy death. Often this means the health-care providers see decease to beryllium imminent. These patients tin waive last consent, which means MAID tin proceed connected oregon earlier their chosen date, adjacent if they bash not person the capableness to consent astatine the clip of the MAID procedure. 

Track 2 patients see radical who endure intolerably but whose decease is not reasonably foreseeable. They tin entree MAID,  but they cannot waive their last consent. 

Canadian instrumentality volition besides let patients to person MAID if their sole underlying aesculapian information is simply a intelligence illness. That eligibility goes into effect March 17, 2027.

Chantale Arseneault, a determination MAID co-ordinator for Horizon, said helping families with MAID is the astir rewarding occupation of her nursing career, and she wouldn't commercialized it for the world. 

"Most radical volition say, 'Oh, my goodness, however tin you bash this benignant of work?' Arseneault said. "And I situation that, due to the fact that astir of our patients are highly grateful to not lone archer america their story, but they go susceptible with america and we marque connections, heavy connections."

Part her relation is helping patients program their past surviving day.

"I ask, what does a bully decease mean to you … what does it look like? Who is there?'" 

Lee said infirmary unit made it imaginable for her parents to beryllium successful infirmary beds broadside by side, and erstwhile they died together, it was merciful and peaceful. 

"I person ne'er experienced a decease wherever I person had this overmuch closure," she said.

"Mom and Dad were holding hands and looking astatine each other. The full clip the process was happening, they were holding hands."