An 83-year-old Canadian woman was forcibly euthanized and her family accused the medical team of violating regulations

The euthanasia program has once again caused huge controversy. Brigitte Stegemann, an 83-year-old grandmother in Ontario, Canada, who suffered from gastric cancer, passed away in July this year by euthanasia (medically assisted death, MAiD) in a care center. However, the family members alleged that the grandmother had clearly refused euthanasia due to her religious beliefs during her lifetime, and was diagnosed with dementia and cognitive decline. However, the medical team re-opened the evaluation in the absence of the family members, and even pushed through the procedure without her consent before she died, leading to her death. Relevant local units in Canada have currently set up a task force to launch a criminal investigation.

According to comprehensive foreign media reports, Stegman originally lived in "The Pearl care home" in Cannifton, Ontario. Brigitte Kranendonk, who has cared for her grandma for a long time, revealed that when her grandma was diagnosed with gastric cancer, she explicitly refused to end her life through euthanasia because of her devout Christian faith.

However, in June of this year, Kellendonk and her husband embarked on a 10-day trip to stay in touch with the Pearl Care Center where her grandmother was staying. Towards the end of the trip, she was suddenly notified that the care center was planning to arrange an MAiD assessment for her grandma. After Clanlendonk returned home, he asked the nurse who initiated the discussion, but the nurse took a tough stance and said he "just wanted to do what was best for her."

The granddaughter further discovered that during her trip, her grandma had already completed her first euthanasia consultation, and her mental condition was seriously struggling during the assessment process, and she could not even answer questions about family members correctly. During the second evaluation, accompanied by the granddaughter in person, the doctor explained using vague words such as "after giving you the medicine, you will no longer have diarrhea." Even though the granddaughter reminded on the spot that "grandma doesn't understand at all," the doctor still unilaterally determined that grandma was qualified and made the decision to move forward with the procedure.

Just two days before the procedure was to be carried out, Klanlendonk asked her grandmother directly if she knew that the representative of the scheduled procedure would die. Her grandmother immediately cried on the spot and said, "I made a mistake." Although the doctor once said that grandma could choose to refuse that day, Crane was not sure what the truth was and did not want to put pressure on her. She could only try her best to spend her last days with her.

On the day of the execution on July 10, the nurse responsible for intravenous injection failed to wear gloves and failed to insert the needle many times, resulting in "blood stains" on the scene. When the doctor then walked into the room for final confirmation, grandma had her eyes closed and was motionless, with no voice or movement response at all. However, the doctor only said, "Okay, I'm going to start the execution," and declared her dead within 10 minutes.

Cralendonk admitted that she regretted not applying for a legal injunction to prevent the euthanasia, but she did not know she had this option at the time. She has now lodged a complaint with the relevant local authorities, asking whether the investigation process was legal.