Thank you very much. I am speaking today on behalf of our brother, Alan Nichols, who was given MAID. Alan received medical assistance in dying—assisted suicide—on July 26, 2019, when MAID was still reserved for those whose death was foreseeable. Alan did not meet the MAID criteria. He did not have a foreseeable death. He struggled with recurring mental health crises, but he always recovered.
On June 16, 2019, Alan was placed, against his will, in an ambulance and taken to the Chilliwack General Hospital. Under the Mental Health Act, for his own safety and protection, he was admitted after a neighbour had called the RCMP for a wellness check.
My husband Gary flew from Edmonton to see his brother that very day. Alan asked Gary to bust him out, but Gary thought he would be safer in the hospital and would get the help he needed. My husband Gary lives with the regret of that decision to entrust Alan's wellness to a medical facility.
Alan was transferred to psychiatry the next day. He refused visitors, including family, which disturbed us, though we trusted his treating team. Our family received no hospital updates until eight days after admittance to emergency.
Alan's doctor said she would check with staff and gather information, and asked Gary to call her back to discuss further. Gary called back and learned that Alan's doctor had vanished for a three-week holiday. For the next three weeks our family was misled by his social worker, who assured us that Alan was doing well. Unknown to us at this time, on July 19 an attempt to give Alan MAID had ended in failure. The hospital had not followed the prescribed MAID protocols, as no doctor was present, no family had been notified and they had no clear instruction where to send Alan's dead body.
Alan's doctor called Gary three days after this botched attempt, announcing that Alan would receive MAID at the end of the week. She was delighted that Alan had agreed to a final visit with us and suggested that we make no waves or he could actually deny our visit. After driving 12 hours, we were denied the visit until the next day.
Five weeks after his admittance into emergency for his own safety and protection, we were finally allowed to see him. Alan was not making any sense in the things we talked about. He refused to wear his cochlear apparatus, so it was difficult to communicate effectively.
Fear began to grip us and we began pleading and begging with the medical staff to stop this MAID. We asked for a delay as we could not reach our oldest brother, Wayne. Alan went into a fit of rage, screaming uncontrollably. I asked his doctor right then, “Is this what you call a sound mind?” Alan was euthanized minutes later.
On Alan's MAID form, hearing loss was stated as the reason for application. How can doctors accept, approve and administer a death for this when Alan did not have a terminal illness and his hearing had been corrected, and all the while he had been involuntarily admitted for suicide protection?
Alan did not have a valid diagnosis for MAID. He was eating, walking and talking, according to his social worker, so why did they keep him in the hospital if they weren't treating him for being a danger to himself? Placing him involuntarily in hospital care is what put Alan in imminent danger. We still have no answers after repeatedly trying to have his death investigated.
Would you feel safe now, bringing your suicidal loved one to seek medical care for recovery when there are no oversight or stringent safeguards surrounding a procedure that kills people?
Alan chose to live alone, managing his daily affairs. He owned his own condominium. He had money in the bank. Each week, family would pick him up and take him to buy groceries and help him with his banking. He didn't rely on our health care system for any support. His family and neighbours lovingly kept an eye out for him. It was our health care system and this legislation that failed him, resulting in his premature and wrongful death.
Three years now we have spent in this nightmare. We are so angry and insulted at how they just all turned their heads as they listened to us begging for Alan's life. Do you know what this has done to our family? With no justice, no accountability and no stringent safeguards to prevent such a wrongful death, how can our government even be looking at expanding MAID laws?
There are currently no laws protecting the vulnerable or their families from MAID. Most Canadians think MAID is to alleviate the physical suffering at the end of a life, not a ploy to end a life.
Thank you so much for hearing us.