An anti-euthanasia advocacy group is calling for authorities to review all medically-assisted deaths conducted by a controversial doctor.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) has introduced a petition to Josie Osborne, the BC Minister of Health, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) to investigate the euthanasia practice of Dr. Ellen Wiebe.
"There have been many controversial euthanasia deaths associated with Dr Wiebe and we believe that there may be many more concerning deaths that were carried out by Dr. Wiebe," the petition on CitizenGo explains.
"We believe that it is likely that Dr. Wiebe has participated in non-compliant euthanasia deaths and legal sanctions or sanctions on her medical license are likely.
"Until an investigation is completed, Dr. Wiebe’s medical license should be temporarily suspended in order to protect people."
In December, a 52-year old businessman and father of three received medical assistance in dying (MAiD) while on a day pass from a psych ward in Vancouver. He suffered with chronic back pain and long-term mental illness. The family of the man, named JMM in B.C. Supreme Court documents, claims he suffered a wrongful death in December 2022.
The filing accuses Wiebe and her clinic of malpractice. The family seeks damages for the alleged wrongful death and a declaration that the man’s Charter rights were breached and that the MAiD framework is invalid and unconstitutional.
Justice Simon Coval signed an injunction on October 26, 2024 preventing Wiebe from giving an Alberta woman a MAiD scheduled for the next day. The claim stated that the woman did not qualify for MAiD because she was neither terminally ill and had no irremediable medical condition.
In an interview with Western Standard, EPC executive director Alex Schadenberg said all MAiDs Wiebe provided should be scrutinized.
"Remember, dead people can't tell stories, so there might be quite a few controversial deaths that we've never heard about, and it's not possible to know about because the only other witness is dead," Schadenberg said.
In 2022, Wiebe acknowledged that she had provided MAiD more than 400 times. That same year, Alexander Raikin in The New Atlantis drew attention to other comments she made to the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers.
Wiebe recounted a case where assessors found a male patient was not seriously ill nor and lacked “capacity to make informed decisions about his own personal health.” One assessor concluded, “it is very clear that he does not qualify.” Next, Dying With Dignity Canada connected the man with Wiebe. She assessed him virtually, found him eligible, found a second assessor to agree, picked him up at the airport, and euthanized him at her clinic.
Another case from 2017 was brought to light by Amy Hasbrouck in 2020. A B.C. woman known as Ms. S. suffered with multiple sclerosis but Wiebe would not give it to her because her death was not imminent. However, the patient began to starve herself in palliative-care. Wiebe declared her eligible on March 3 and euthanized her March 7.
In 2018, the Orthodox Jewish Louis Brier Nursing Home in Vancouver complained Wiebe secretly gave MAiD onsite against their policy. CEO David Keselman filed a complaint with CPSBC over the incident.
“We have a lot of Holocaust survivors...They’re going to feel like they’re at risk when you learn someone was sneaking in and killing someone," Keselman told the Vancouver Sun.
According to the Sun, "Wiebe said that after she assisted in the death, the care home and Vancouver Coastal Health met with her to have her promise not to carry out MAiD on its premises in future, which she said she wouldn’t agree to."
Schadenberg said this list of incidents is too long.
"You start putting it together, you start realizing this is a woman who probably should have her medical license removed, but no one's bothering to do any type of investigation into her practice," Schadenberg said.
"I think all euthanasia is bad. Nonetheless, when you got another doctor who just seems to be like in the Wild West, killing people, then I think our concern is to look at that, no matter what."
Western Standard reached out to Wiebe for comment but without success.