{"id":332502,"date":"2025-06-10T06:55:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T11:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=332502"},"modified":"2025-06-09T00:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T05:10:17","slug":"canadian-woman-never-diagnosis-treatment-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/canadian-woman-never-diagnosis-treatment-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian woman who never got definitive diagnosis or treatment died by assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/01\/magazine\/maid-medical-assistance-dying-canada.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paula Ritchie<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was killed at age 52 under Canada\u2019s <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">medical assistance in dying (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/services\/health-services-benefits\/medical-assistance-dying.html\">MAiD<\/a>) law, despite having no terminal medical condition, after multiple attempts to find a diagnosis and treatment for her symptoms failed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>In Canada, a woman who could not get a definitive diagnosis or treatment for multiple, debilitating symptoms eventually sought &#8216;medical assistance in dying,&#8217; or MAiD.<\/li>\n<li>Two doctors eventually approved her for MAiD, though she was never diagnosed with a terminal condition.<\/li>\n<li>A psychiatrist who helped to develop a MAiD program in Toronto claims the laws are &#8220;kind of vague,&#8221; making it &#8220;<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not that hard to meet eligibility criteria.&#8221; She opposes MAiD for those who are not terminally ill.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>THE CONTEXT:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ritchie, who suffered a head injury in 2023, began to experience persistent, unexplainable symptoms which no one could seem to diagnose with any certainty (some claimed it was a concussion, others pointed to depression and anxiety, and still others said her symptoms were from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and more), with a CT and MRI showing no &#8220;obvious cause.&#8221; She experienced intense pain, dizziness, and more \u2014 and sometimes, when she sought medical help, she was admitted involuntarily for psychiatric care.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ritchie had persistently sought approval for doctor-assisted suicide due to the lack of conclusive diagnosis and unsuccessful treatment, but was denied. Under Canada\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/rp-pr\/other-autre\/ad-am\/p2.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">law<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, two physicians must deem a patient eligible for MAiD.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canada\u2019s law <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/cj-jp\/ad-am\/bk-di.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">denies<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">eligibility for medical death for those whose sole underlying condition is mental illness \u2014 until March 17, 2027. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/csj-sjc\/pl\/charter-charte\/c7.html#:~:text=The%20additional%20safeguards%2C%20which%20are,two%20clarifications%20of%20informed%20consent.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bill C-7<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, passed in 2021, modified the original <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/rp-pr\/other-autre\/ad-am\/p2.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bill C-14<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> MAiD law by removing the requirement that a patient\u2019s death be \u201creasonably foreseeable.\u201d This modification is commonly called Track 2, but it still delays eligibility for patients struggling with mental health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>THE DETAILS:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Matt Wonnacott, known for his consideration of cases that many doctors have denied, listened to Ritchie&#8217;s case. First, he asked if she would &#8220;consider seeing a neuropsychiatrist, a specialist who worked at the intersection of chronic pain and brain injury,&#8221; reported NYT, adding, &#8220;<\/span>The thing was, <strong>she knew that it could take months to get a specialist appointment in Ontario, as in the rest of Canada<\/strong>. And even then, it might not help. Paula had already seen a neurologist, who told her that &#8216;there is no magic wand'&#8221; (emphasis added).<\/p>\n<p>Wonnacott characterized that statement as &#8220;pretty callous,&#8221; but suggested that &#8220;it&#8217;s possible, theoretically possible, that months to years of sustained work over many visits could make you marginally better&#8230; What if there was a magic wand that would make you <em>mostly<\/em> better, five years from now? Would you wait the five years?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ritchie said no. So Wonnacott<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0concluded she could receive physician-assisted death.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cShe had tried to get better, after all. She seemed to be thoughtful about the costs and benefits of dying,\u201d he said, according to a New York Times (NYT) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/01\/magazine\/maid-medical-assistance-dying-canada.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">story<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He and another doctor, psychiatrist Dr. Elspeth MacEwan, agreed to approve Ritchie for MAiD despite the legal restrictions, with Wonnacott saying he could &#8220;probably do next week.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ritchie <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/01\/magazine\/maid-medical-assistance-dying-canada.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">told<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> her doctor she believed MAiD was a \u201cmore dignified\u201d way to die, despite her multiple failed suicide attempts, in which she tried to suffocate herself with grocery bags, drown herself in a river, and induce medical overdose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheduled day of Ritchie&#8217;s death came. She had called several pastors, asking them to be present at her final moments. Rev. Takouhi Demirdijian-Petro from the United Church of Canada agreed and came to her apartment, where her close friends and family gathered. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Valerie Oldfield, a death doula, was also present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ritchie described her feelings as &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">terrified,\u201d but Oldfield told her it was just &#8220;human nature.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ritchie had canceled her final breakfast, saying she wasn\u2019t hungry, but she told Wonnacott she was still ready to give her final consent to die.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wonnacott told Ritchie that after the lethal injection, it would be over in about five to 10 minutes \u2014 but claimed that for Ritchie, it would feel as fast as a minute.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt feels like falling asleep for surgery,\u201d Wonnacott told her. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get really relaxed, and you\u2019re going to fall asleep.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At first, when Wonnacott inserted the poison, Ritchie said she felt nothing. Then, s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he began coughing \u2014 deep, gagging, wrenching coughs \u2014\u00a0sounding as if she would vomit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is horrible,\u201d she muttered. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then she got very still. Her hands went limp.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>COMMENTARY:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is telling that even Dr. Madeline Li, a cancer psychiatrist who helped develop the MAiD program for Toronto\u2019s University Health Network, <em>opposes<\/em> MAiD for any suffering patient who is not terminally ill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you want to allow people to end their lives when they want to, then put suicide kits in hardware stores, right?\u201d Li <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/01\/magazine\/maid-medical-assistance-dying-canada.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">told<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the NYT. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf a patient meets eligibility criteria \u2014 and because the laws are kind of vague, it\u2019s actually not that hard to meet eligibility criteria \u2014 then you can provide the MAID. But that doesn\u2019t mean that, clinically, you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">should<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provide the MAID.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEuthanasia is awful \u2018medicine\u2019 and even worse public policy,\u201d Wesley Smith wrote in a National Review <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/the-callous-cruelty-of-canadian-euthanasia-illustrated\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">piece<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u201cIt exposes the most vulnerable among us to abandonment and death. It pretends to be kind. It claims to be <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">compassionate<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But in the end, it justifies the most callous cruelty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>THE BOTTOM LINE:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023, 15,343 Canadians died under MAiD: 14,721 patients died under Track 1 and 622 died from Track 2, according to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/01\/magazine\/maid-medical-assistance-dying-canada.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Times<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. One in every 20 Canadians who die take their lives through physician-assisted suicide, making Canada the top provider of medical death in the world, NYT <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reports<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, in Ritchie&#8217;s case (as in numerous others), the lack of a diagnosis and treatment led to Ritchie&#8217;s desperate belief that death was her only solution.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although portrayed as compassionate, medically assisted suicide is one of the most inhumane, twisted, heartless legal practices. Unfortunately, legality does not always correlate to morality. Modern culture has legalized pre-emptive death for those most vulnerable: the preborn and the suffering.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/actnow.io\/G3Bhv6M\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-332271\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-700x251.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-700x251.jpg 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-300x107.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-768x275.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-500x179.jpg 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02.jpg 1167w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paula Ritchie was killed at age 52 under Canada\u2019s medical assistance in dying (MAiD) law, despite having no terminal medical condition, after multiple attempts to find a diagnosis and treatment for her symptoms failed.\u00a0 KEY TAKEAWAYS: In Canada, a woman who could not get a definitive diagnosis or treatment for multiple, debilitating symptoms eventually sought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1039,"featured_media":332573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Canadian woman who never got 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