Choosing a Gentle Death

In Canada, it has been legal to end your own life since 1972.  However, because we do not have medically-assisted dying, it can be difficult for individuals to achieve a peaceful death.

Provided you are a member and meet our eligibility criteria, Dying With Dignity can provide you with information and emotional support.

Once we have determined their eligibility for support, our first step  is to ensure our clients are aware of all of their end of life options. 

In a way, we think of ourselves as a suicide prevention service.  Many people contact us to explore ending their lives; once we've given them information about all their options, they often realize that hastening their death is not their best option.

If, after being made aware of all of their choices, a client still wishes to hasten their death, we make sure they have the information to do so effectively.  If our client wishes, we will be with them at their bedside when they die.

To be eligible for our full support you must be a mentally-competent adult with a terminal or an incurable progressive physical illness and your suffering must be unbearable to you.

We will require written documentation of your diagnosis from your doctor as part of our admission process.

Members that do not clearly meet the eligibility criteria for admission to the full Client Support Program may still be eligible for support for hastening through voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED).

Such support is available for individuals who otherwise meet our criteria but where there is some question of capacity (such as individuals experiencing symptoms of dementia). VSED is also available to individuals who do not meet our medical criteria but who are nevertheless experiencing intolerable and intractable suffering.

For more information on Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking or to download a detailed fact sheet on this subject, please see our information on understanding all your end of life options.
 

We want our services to be available to everyone, regardless of their financial situation, so we do not charge for our Client Support Program. Most of the members and families who use the program do choose to make a charitable donation, either directly or from their estate, to cover the costs of the program and to ensure we’ll be here to help others in the future.

We only support adults who are mentally competent.  Individual's with Alzheimer's Disease or other dementia related disorders generally lose their competence in stages, and can retain competence in some areas after they have lost it in others.  For example, in the early stages of Alzheimer's many people retain their competence to make personal health decisions even if they have lost their competence in other areas, such as financial decision making.

Where an individual has a dementia-related diagnosis, we require that they obtain a capacity assessment before they are admitted to the program.  Generally, we will support people in the early stages of Alzheimer's or other demential related disorders, but only through voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED).  By putting this limitation in place, we ensure that we support only those who are  competent at the time of their hastening.

That said, you still have options.  If your mother wouldn't have wanted to be kept alive in this condition, you can certainly refuse any medical treatment (other than comfort care) on her behalf.  For example, if she developed an infection you could refuse any antibiotics.  Similarly, you could refuse a flu shot or other preventative treatment that might prolong her life.

To obtain further information, contact our Client Support Program at our National Office.  The Client Support Program is a member-only program, you must join Dying With Dignity Canada to access our services.   (Note that we never turn anyone away because of inability to pay, you can join as a compassionate member on a pay what you can basis).