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A Canadian man's decision to end his life through the country's medically assisted dying program left his son stunned by how quickly the process unfolded, and now he's warning that the system has gone "way past appropriate."
Eric Edmeades, founder of Speaker Nation, a training platform for speakers that teaches presentation skills and more, told Fox News Digital this week that his father Baz, who was in his late 70s and struggling with a combination of medical problems, began discussing Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program after his health deteriorated in late 2023.
But what Edmeades expected to be a months-long process suddenly accelerated, leaving the family with little time to prepare.
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Edmeades said the family started taking the issue seriously in January, but at that stage, projections were that it would take at least six months. He and his wife traveled to Vancouver at the beginning of 2024 to visit his father. At that stage, it was still a speculative thing that was months away.
"And then all of a sudden it was like, ‘No, it's next week,’" Edmeades recalled.
His father died via MAiD on Feb. 27, 2024.
He had been experiencing a sharp decline in his physical health and independence, particularly during the COVID-era lockdowns, according to his son.
"He had been incredibly healthy most of his life," Edmeades said, describing a combination of symptoms that included epilepsy and neurological pain.
Edmeades also questioned whether interactions between his father's medications could have contributed to his deteriorating condition.
"When the lockdowns came along, and he could no longer go out and walk all the time, it really had a marked decrease in his physical ability and his sense of freedom and all that kind of stuff," he said.
"And then there just came this point where life started sounding pointless to him," Edmeades said.
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Edmeades said his father had previously spoken about suicide, making his initial interest in medically assisted dying less surprising to the family.
"Given that it wasn't the first time that he talked about suicide in his life, it wasn't particularly shocking, but he also wasn't talking about it in really alarmist terms. So, I wasn't overly worried about it," he said.
Edmeades and his wife had already planned a trip to Vancouver and were able to spend time with his father before his death.
"And one of the things I'm incredibly grateful for is that I had incidentally booked a trip out to Vancouver, and my wife and I got to spend time with him," Edmeades recalled.
He thought he and and his wife would have another opportunity to visit.
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Edmeades said he was not in contact with his father's medical providers at the time and did not fully understand what had happened until afterward.
"It happened so quickly that I only really started to piece together what happened when it was done," he said.
Other family members and friends had also expressed concerns about his father's decision, according to Edmeades. He recalled that his brother openly opposed the decision and that one of his father's close friends spent approximately 45 minutes discussing the matter with him during his final days.
"At that stage, you know, for him, the decision was made," Edmeades said.
The experience has left Edmeades questioning whether Canada's assisted-dying program has adequate safeguards.
He acknowledged that there may be circumstances in which medically assisted dying is appropriate but argued that Canada's implementation has gone too far.
"What I see happening in Canada is way past appropriate," he said.
Edmeades also raised concerns about the government's role in overseeing the system, arguing that decisions about eligibility should be insulated from political influence and potential financial incentives.
"If I had to press a button and decide whether the MAiD program existed or didn't exist, I would say this," Edmeades said. "It should only ever exist if, and I mean if the process for approving people, it would be completely independent of government, and there could be no benefit to those people in making that preference in making that decision. Because otherwise there's a slippery slope, and we see that slippery slope."
According to the Government of Canada, individuals seeking medical assistance in dying (MAiD) must be at least 18 years old, capable of making their own medical decisions, and eligible for publicly funded healthcare. They must also voluntarily request the procedure without outside pressure and provide informed consent. To qualify, applicants must have a serious, incurable illness, disease or disability, be experiencing an advanced and irreversible decline in their abilities, and face persistent physical or psychological suffering they consider intolerable and that cannot be relieved in a way they find acceptable.
The government also announced legislation on Oct. 27, 2026, that would allow advance requests while preventing the planned expansion of MAiD eligibility to people whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness.
According to the BBC, Canada’s MAiD law, which legalized euthanasia in 2016, is responsible for one in every 20 deaths in Canada.
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A report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal covered by EWTN News claimed that implementing assisted suicide will "save" the Canadian healthcare system between $34.7 and $136.8 million per year. The study noted that patients and physicians should not consider costs when making such grave decisions.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ian McLeod, senior advisor for media relations and Conseiller principal for the Department of Justice Canada, said, "Canadian law is extremely clear: medical assistance in dying (MAID) requires a voluntary request, freedom from external pressure, and the person’s informed consent, among other stringent eligibility criteria and safeguards. Knowingly failing to comply with these eligibility criteria and safeguards is a criminal offence."
McLeod continued, "In the current MAID structure found in Canada’s Criminal Code, the mental illness exclusion is meant to exclude eligibility for MAID on the basis of a mental illness, including suicidal ideation. The proposed amendment to the mental illness exclusion in Bill C-41, the proposed Medical Assistance in Dying Safeguards Act, which was introduced on October 27, 2026, is meant to reinforce this."
McLeod added, "This is why the Bill reinforces that, in situations where a person has a mental illness and an eligible medical condition (e.g. physical or neurodegenerative illness), eligibility must be determined on the basis of the qualifying medical condition. A mental illness may contribute to a person’s suffering, but it cannot be the basis for determining that the MAID eligibility criteria are met. Importantly, having a mental illness does not, in itself, make a person ineligible for MAID."
McLeod said that patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable must undergo eligibility assessments by two independent doctors or nurse practitioners, with at least 90 full days between the start of the first assessment and the assisted death.
That waiting period, according to McLeod, can be shortened if both assessments are complete, both practitioners agree the patient is at imminent risk of losing the ability to consent, and the practitioner providing MAiD determines that a shorter period is appropriate.
McLeod emphasized that federal requirements establish minimum safeguards, while provinces and territories oversee how MAiD is administered and may impose additional protections. He said questions about the program's oversight and delivery should therefore be directed to provincial or territorial authorities.
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