Canadian citizens are expressing outrage after a woman who was seeking medical attention for back pain was offered euthanasia before she was ever diagnosed. Now, a member of Parliament is citing the story of Miriam Lancaster as proof that Canada needs to stop expanding its euthanasia program.
Miriam told her story in a social media video as well as in a post on The Free Press called, “Never Kill Yourself: When I went to the doctor in Vancouver with back pain, she offered me assisted suicide; instead, I recovered—and went to Cuba!”
It started a year ago when Miriam woke up with back pain and went to the hospital. Before testing her or diagnosing her condition, the hospital staff immediately offered to help her kill herself.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you receive the latest news from a Christian perspective.***
“I was approached by a lady doctor who, the first words out of her mouth were, ‘We’d like to offer you MAID,'” Miriam recalls. MAiD stands for Medical Assistance in Dying.
Miriam was 83 and in a lot of pain, but was strong enough to say no to the doctor-assisted suicide. She was able to fight for the treatment she needed. Now she has recovered and was even able to celebrate her daughter’s wedding, go traveling, and ride a horse, all within a year of being offered MAiD.
Tamara Jansen, a Member of Parliament for Cloverdale–Langley City, British Columbia, is sounding the alarm about what this story might portend if Parliament passes a new bill to add mental health struggles to the list of those qualified for MAiD.
Jansen posted, “I’ve been hearing from a lot of people this week about the story of an 84-year-old woman in BC who went to the hospital looking for answers about her pain, and she says that before any tests were done or a diagnosis was given, MAiD was brought up as an option.”
Jansen, who is known for advocating for the elderly and disabled, has introduced a bill, C 218, to halt the expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying.
She warns, “In 2027, Canada is set to expand MAiD to what many are now calling psychiatric euthanasia—for people with mental illness alone. That includes conditions like anxiety, depression, PTSD… And yet—there is still no clear definition of ‘treatment resistance’ and no requirement to exhaust all treatment options first. Canadians are asking a simple question: Are we offering death before we offer care?”
* ‘Shocked’: Canadian Hospital Told Priest with Broken Hip He Might Need to Consider Assisted Suicide
She’s asking Canadians to reach out to their Member of Parliament to ask them to stop the expansion of MAiD for mental illness, and to support her Bill, C-218.
“If someone with a treatable condition can be presented with assisted death so early in their care, what happens when MAiD is expanded to include people who are struggling with mental illness?” Jansen asks. “When someone reaches out for help—especially at a vulnerable moment—they deserve care, support, and a path forward.”
“We should always be a country that stands for hope, recovery, and protecting those who are most vulnerable,” Jansen said.
* Canadian Woman Survives Date With Death After Glenn Beck’s Assistance
