So much for the carefully observed guardrails around assisted suicide in this country. A troubled, but healthy young man has found a way to have Canada’s health system put him to death. That was promised to never happen.But it did. What’s going on? Maybe it’s time to find out and look at how MAiD applications are reviewed, starting with the sad case of Kiano Vafaeian, who was euthanised at his own request on December 30.At the Western Standard, we have a professional interest in Mr. Vafaeian’s case. In the fall of 2022, we were alerted by his mother that her son, suffering from diabetes and blind in one eye, had found a doctor to administer MAiD. He was depressed but not being in physical pain or about to die anyway, there was no way that he was eligible. .SLOBODIAN: Mother's nightmare as son chooses death option.Understandably, she was distressed and gave Western Standard columnist Linda Slobodian an extensive interview. The article spread rapidly, generating imitators and eventually amid the media buzz, the doctor who had agreed to euthanise Vafaeian withdrew from the case..A few months later, Ms. Slobodian checked in with the mother and found the situation had settled down. Her son was living with his grandparents – and having found himself a girlfriend, was apparently doing much better..SLOBODIAN: MAiD approved ‘candidate’ cleaning grandpa’s garage, not lying in a grave.But manifestly, three years later his decision to have a doctor end his life indicates that whatever demon was driving him to seek death, had not left him.That in itself is tragic.The wider implications are however, that he appears to have been still ineligible. Perhaps he might have qualified as mentally ill but mental illness will not carry eligibility for MAiD until March 2027..So what happened here?When the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalised assisted suicide 10 years ago, it did so only under the most limited conditions – excruciating pain in the presence of imminent death which was interpreted then as about a week.That was it. Not for Canada the promiscuous administration of medical suicide as carried on in certain European countries. Warned of the slippery slope upon which the Court was placing Canadian feet, the judgment loftily suggested that the Europeans were informed by a different tradition; it would all be better in Canada, where eligibility would be “stringently limited” and permission granted only after the most comprehensive reviews..As those who warned of slippery slopes foresaw, that didn't last long. The safeguards have since been reduced. ‘Track Two’ assisted suicide is now available to “persons whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable.” The Justice Department explains it, “These safeguards seek to address the diverse sources of suffering and vulnerability that could potentially lead a person who is not nearing death to ask for MAID.”Was suffering and vulnerability how Kiano Vafaeian qualified for euthanasia?It will not, of course, be recorded as euthanasia. It will be called Medical Assistance in Dying. But this young man was not ‘dying’ and needing ‘assistance’ to do it. He was described by his own doctor years ago as "young and healthy." Yes, he struggled with diabetes, partial blindness, depression, and a turbulent life, as the Western Standard tells his story.But these people didn’t help him die. At his request, they killed him. All legal, they say… but should it be?.When his grieving mother Margaret Marsilla, announced his death on Facebook, she called out Dr. Ellen Wiebe – dubbed "Dr. Death #2" – for finding a "loophole" to approve his death despite mental illness alone being ineligible for Medical Assistance in Dying..'Healthy' 26-year-old man killed by MAiD for 'mental illness'.This isn't healthcare; it's a grotesque failure.Canada's MAiD started narrowly post-Carter decision: stringent limits, contemporaneous consent for terminal suffering. Now? It's the fifth-leading cause of death, over 74,000 since 2016 and Canada is a world leader in assisted suicide. Eligibility ballooned via Bill C-7 to non-terminal cases. Mental illness was deferred repeatedly – to 2027 – amid unpreparedness fears. But apparently there is a way. .This case screams for full inquiry into the integrity of the approval process for MAiD, especially the random sampling of Track 2 cases. How many "loopholes" bypass safeguards? How many depressed, isolated Canadians – poor, disabled, lonely – slip through because death is cheaper than care?Palliative care lags; pain relief, support, hope denied. Instead, Canada’s caring system offers lethal injections. Kiano's death isn't compassion; it's abandonment. Marsilla vows justice: "No parent should bury their child because a system – and a doctor – chose death over care."Western Standard readers helped save this young man once, through Slobodian's insight and tenacity. Now, we must demand accountability. Review this travesty. Close the loopholes before more lives – young, and salvageable – vanish. Canada's soul hangs in the balance.
