A British Columbia family is suing federal and provincial authorities for wrongful death, saying that a mentally ill man received medical assistance in dying (MAID) while on a day pass from a Vancouver psychiatric ward two years ago, despite not being eligible or having the capacity to consent to the procedure.
The family alleges his death was the result of "wrongful actions" by the physicians and institutions involved, as well as "unconstitutional" federal and provincial MAID regulations. They argue a loophole exists in the current MAID framework, which temporarily excludes individuals whose sole condition is a mental illness but, they say, fails to protect those with concurrent mental and physical illness.
The notice of civil claim was filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 13. The family, a group of five plaintiffs whose names are not disclosed, says that a 52-year-old man who suffered from long-term mental illness and remediable chronic back pain, received approval for assisted dying even though his pain was neither severe nor incurable to make him eligible.
The lawsuit's defendants include the Attorney General of Canada, B.C.'s Ministry of Health, the Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Providence Health Care, which operates St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, and some of the physicians at the health institutes.
The patient referred to in the Dec. 13 lawsuit, identified in the document as J.M.M., was a businessman and a father of three. He had been formally diagnosed with mental illness, including bipolar disorder.
In late 2022, his family received a court order under the Mental Health Act to commit him to the psychiatric ward of St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver, where he began to receive treatment for his mental illness, the lawsuit says.
Despite having received approval for assisted dying, J.M.M. decided to forgo that option in favour of rehabilitation. After learning of the alleged approval, the family raised doubts about its legitimacy with the defendants, but say they received no response.
The document does not say when the patient was approved for MAID.
"The plaintiffs were not informed of J.M.M.'s departure from St. Paul's Hospital until after J.M.M. had undergone MAiD," the lawsuit says.
Both Providence Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health said they could not comment, citing patient confidentiality and ongoing court proceedings.
The Epoch Times also reached out to Wiebe but did not hear back by publication time.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
The lawsuit was filed by the woman's common-law partner, who obtained a temporary injunction to stop her medically assisted death. He argued she did not qualify for MAID because her condition was one of mental illness and her physical illness was not irremediable.