MAiD and Abortion in Canada – 2024 Update

By adminguyEnd of Life

Euthanasia in Canada – 2023

The number of Canadians who selected MAiD in 2023 has now been released by the Canadian Government in their Fifth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2023.

  • “This report details 19,660 reports of MAID requests that Health Canada received in 2023. There were 15,343 people who received MAID; the remaining cases were requests for that did not result in MAID (2,906 died before receiving MAID, 915 individuals were deemed ineligible and 496 individuals withdrew their request).
  • The number of MAID provisions in 2023 represents an increase of 15.8% over 2022. This represents a slowing over previous years (2019 to 2022) which had an average growth rate of approximately 31%.
  • It is not yet possible to make reliable conclusions about whether or not these findings represent a stabilization of growth rates over the longer term. An increased awareness of MAID within the care continuum, population aging and the associated patterns of illness or disease, personal beliefs and societal acceptance, as well as the availability of practitioners who provide MAID may all influence the rate of provisions.” 1

“Based on previous reports, there were 44,958 MAID provisions since its legalization in 2016 to 2022, which brings the total number of MAID provisions in Canada to 60,301.” 2

Euthanasia Trends 2019 – 2023

Fig. 1 below shows several categories. Death Via MAiD (blue), those who were enrolled in MAiD but died before being euthanized (orange), those who requested MAiD but were deemed ineligible (yellow) and those who were enrolled in MAiD but withdrew (green).

See Table 1 for references.

Figure 1. MAiD requests and outcomes in Canada, obtained for the years 2019 through 2023 obtained xxx from the 2019 3, 2020 4, 2021 5, 2022 6 and 2023 7 annual reports. Categories shown: Death Via MAiD (blue), those who were enrolled in MAiD but died before being euthanized (orange), those who requested MAiD but were deemed ineligible (yellow) and those who were enrolled in MAiD but withdrew (green).

The numbers shown in the figure above and table below do not represent all of the MAiD deaths, which are higher and are shown in Fig. 3 and Table 3. This is due to the timelines the various data were collected. For example the 2022 report states on p. 5 that there were 13,241 MAiD provisions in Canada, however in Table 7.1 on p. 47 under “Requests that resulted in MAID” the entry is 13,102.

As well, the report states, “Note that it is possible that a person is included in these groups more than once (for example, a person could request MAID, withdraw and then apply again and receive it, or make several requests for MAID which are all each deemed ineligible).”

Year
Killed via MAiD
Died before
Ineligible
Withdrawn
2019 3 5,389 1,113 571 263
2020 4 7,384 1,193 566 232
2021 5 9,950 1,618 487 231
2022 6 13,102 2,144 560 298
2023 7 15,343 2,906 916 496
Totals / Percent 51,168 / 79% 8,974 / 14% 3,100 / 5% 1,520 / 2%

Table 1. MAiD Requests and Outcomes in Canada by Year. Total requests estimated at roughly 64,762 – see paragraph above. Therefore the percentages shown, which are based on estimated total requests are themselves only estimates, but should give a good ballpark estimate.


Practitioners of MAiD 2019 – 2023

* NOTE: There are inconsistent variations in some of the numbers given in subsequent reports for previous years. For example, the number of Physician and nurse practitioners administering MAiD for 2019 in the 2019 annual report was 1,196 and 75 respectively for a total number of 1,271. (P. 28) The following year’s 2020 annual report claimed the number of nurse practitioners for 2019 was 55 (p. 24). In the 2022 annual report on page 40 the total for 2019 was shown as 1112 with a breakdown of 1057 and 55. In the 2023 report (p. 53) the total number of practitioners for 2019 is again 1271. Similar problems hold for total number of Canadians opting for MAiD

In Fig. 2 below, data from the years 2019 through until 2022 was taken from page 40 of the 2022 annual report. 2023 numbers are estimated from percentages. (P. 53)

Figure 2. Annual total deaths by euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada, obtained for the years 2017 through 2023 from Stats Canada, as well as Health Canada for 2021, 2022 and 2023. Categories shown: Death Via MAiD (blue), those who were enrolled in MAiD but died before being euthanized (orange), those who requested MAiD but were deemed ineligible (yellow) and those who were enrolled in MAiD but withdrew (green).

In Table 2. below, data from the years 2019 through until 2022 was taken from page 40 of the 2022 annual report. 2023 numbers are estimated from percentages. (P. 53)

Year
Physicians
Nurse Practioners
2019 8 1,057 55
2020 8 1,240 67
2021 8 1,453 89
2022 8 1,746 91
2023 9 2,079 121

Table 2

Euthanasia Trends 2017 – 2023

Figure 3. Annual total deaths by euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada, obtained for the years 2016 through 2023 from Health Canada’s 2022 and 2023 Reports. See references in table below.


Year
Killed by MAiD
Annual percent increase
2016 10 1,016 –
2017 10 2,838 179%
2018 10 4,493 58%
2019 10 5,665 26%
2020 10 7,611 34%
2021 10 10,092 33%
2022 10 13,241 31%
2023 11 15,343 16%

Table 3. Number of Canadians killed by MAiD from 2016 up until the end of 2023. The last column shows the annual increase in deaths from the previous year. For example the number of Canadians killed by MAiD in 2023 increased by 16% over 2022.


Reports

1. Interim update on medical assistance in dying in Canada June 17 to December 31, 2016.
2. 2nd Interim Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada.
3. Third Interim Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada.
4. Fourth Interim Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada.
5. First Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, 2019.
6. Second Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2020.
7. Third annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2021.
8. Fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2022.
9. Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, 2023.





References

1. Fifth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2023.
2. Fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2022. Numbers for 2019-2021 taken from graph on p. 40 in pdf file.
3. First annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2019. Section 7.1 Number of Requests and Outcomes, P. 37 in pdf file.
4. First annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2020. Section 7.1 Number of Requests and Outcomes, P. 31 in pdf file.
5. Third annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2021. Section 7.1 Number of Requests and Outcomes, P. 40 in pdf file.
6. Fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2022. Section 7.1 Number of Requests and Outcomes, P. 47 in pdf file.
7. Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, 2023. Section 2.1 MAID requests and outcomes, P. 15 in pdf file.
8. Fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2022. Section 5.3 Number of Unique MAID Practitioners and Frequency of Provision, pp. 39-40 in pdf file.
9. Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, 2023. Section 6.1 MAID practitioners, p. 53 in pdf file.
10. Fourth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2022. Section 3.1 Number of Reported MAID Deaths in Canada (2016 to 2022), pp. 20-21 in pdf file.
11. Fifth annual report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada 2023. Section 2.2 MAID Provisions, p. 15 in pdf file.