When Audrey Parker, 57, was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, she decided to turn to Canada’s assisted-dying law, but soon realized there was a catch: the law dictated that people approved for medically assisted death had to be conscious and mentally sound at the moment they gave their final consent.
Fearing she would be denied her wish if she eventually became incapacitated, Parker said she was forced to die sooner than she wanted to.
Audrey Parker died last Nov. 1.
In this episode of the Global News podcast This is Why, we hear recorded messages from Parker and host Niki Reitmayer speaks with Dying With Dignity Canada’s CEO, Shanaaz Gokool.
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Watch: coverage of the medically assisted death debate in Canada
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Nova Scotia woman’s posthumous fight to fix assisted-dying law -
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Religious hospitals do not have to offer assisted dying -
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Fighting to die: medically assisted death fails Saskatoon family -
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Former Alberta nun facing terminal cancer chooses medically assisted death -
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Fighting to die: is medically assisted death criteria too vague? -
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Should ‘mature minors’ have access to medically assisted death? Alberta professor weighs in -
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Delicate balance creating guidelines for medically assisted death -
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Quebec doctors want better palliative care services
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