Two disabled Canadians are concerned with a Canadian ethicist who says it makes sense to remove organs to people prior to their medically-assisted death, The Federalist reports.
Rob Sibbald, an ethicist of the London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, broached the discussion in a 2018 article he co-authored in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Sibbald said some MAiD patients might care to die first, but others might want their organs put to maximum good use. Thus, taking the organs first would facilitate “the option of donating as many organs as possible and in the best condition possible.”
The ethicist reiterated his opinion at the Critical Care Canada Forum in November 2018. He said, “I know there’s perhaps not an appetite to go there, but raising the question — is the dead donor rule even relevant?”
“I think legally, yes, we do need an answer, and we’re going to come to that,” Sibbald said. “But of the possible solutions to our pragmatic issues, we can continue to allow physicians to decide and let the conflict go to the courts.”
The Federalist presented Sibbald’s comments to Roger Foley, who had been encouraged to receive MAiD four times.
““His statement is like, ‘We’ll just do it anyway, we’ll let the physicians do it. And after they start doing it, if there’s ever a complaint, then it will go to the courts, and then the courts can decide if this is right or wrong,’” Foley said. “It could be they’re already doing euthanasia by organ harvesting, we just don’t know about it.”
Foley suggested euthanasia was a “sliding practice” of “ableism” that kept expanding “eligibility criteria” and “organ harvesting methods.”
“The human race is not mature enough to have euthanasia and assisted suicide legalized anywhere. The focus should be on improving supports for vulnerable persons to live and improving palliative care at end of life,” he insisted.
In 2023, 83% of Canadian organ transplants were from “deceased” donors. Of these 952 donors, 67% were brain dead, 27% died after losing a pulse, and 6% were MAiD recipients. In Quebec, 14% of organ donors were from MAiD recipients in 2022.
Sibbald, who co-directs the “Canadian unit of the International Network of the UNESCO chair in bioethics” told The Federalist he never said “physicians should operate outside the bounds.”
“Rather, I have suggested that in light of legal developments we should take time to consider whether other legal or professional standards are now also in need of update or reconsideration,” Sibbald said.
Heather Hancock, another disabled patient who says doctors pressured her to accept MAID, told The Federalist the public system has incentives to view disabled patients as an organ resource.
“MAID is a huge money-making business — now they’re saving money on future healthcare,” Hancock said. “They’re literally denying us healthcare treatment and offering us MAID instead.”
Doctors attempted to withdraw life support from B.C. patient Brandon Langhjelm repeatedly in 2021 without his consent, according to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The day he died, doctors denied him oxygen above 60%, as attested to by his mother.
On November 29, 2024, doctors at Montreal's Children's Hospital told former Montreal City Councilor Nicolas Tétrault they would take his son off of life support. He said staff told him his son who had been resuscitated from drowning was "overdrugged" and “good for garbage" and the hospital would take his organs. He flew his son to New Orleans where he made a recovery.
A study published in December 2022 found 136 Canadians who received MAiD gave their organs, while 150 did so from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba told CTV News the study reflected well on Canada, given roughly 4,000 people remained on organ wait lists.
“I was rather proud that Canada has done so well in terms of organ donation by MAID patients,” said Schafer. “So I say, 'Good on us.' It’s a wonderful opportunity for someone facing death to make something significant out of the end of their life.”