52-year-old Paula Ritchie is living with debilitating health effects. Through the darkness of her suffering, she has emerged as an important, courageous, and powerful new voice in the ongoing debate over Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program. Ritchie’s face is as bright and unblemished as her character’s hair is black, tumbling around her waist. Though she’s stunningly beautiful, her life has been filled with horrific violence that led her to consider ending her pain.
Ritchie loosed and at ease in her comfortable living room. She’d dragged her enormous bed into the middle of the room, where the blankets would be expansive. The foot of the bed pointed directly at a late model late 90s FISH-tank type television. Through the other window, a long line of garbage dumpsters appeared. Her plight became more dire by the day. She reached out repeatedly — sometimes every hour — to her region’s MAID coordination service, begging for someone to re-evaluate her for a medically assisted death.
He was getting a lot of pressure from the medical team regarding her case. One night on call, a concerned nurse accosted Dr. Wonnacott and his peers. She pleaded with them to take Ritchie off their roster because her case was so complicated.
At one such exam, Ritchie opened up about her challenges, confessing to Dr. Wonnacott, “You’re a tough case. She confessed that she wasn’t “very good at it,” in reference to the way she copes with her chronic pain and vertigo. One day, she actually had a chance to shower and wash her hair for the first time in weeks. It wasn’t until she attempted to pull herself up from the tub that she discovered how far her health had deteriorated.
At the future end of the spectrum, Ritchie told assessors considering her for MAID, “I can’t make it through a day.” Although she was not terminally ill, her situation still fit the criteria for a medically assisted death under Canada’s expanded 2021 regulations.
Dr. Elspeth MacEwan, a psychiatrist who is part of the evaluation process, was the one who determined Ritchie’s eligibility. Her case raises important questions about the criteria for MAID. It reveals worries about access for people who are not terminally ill.
“This is a more dignified way to go than suicide.” – Paula Ritchie
As discussions continue regarding MAID and its parameters, Ritchie’s story underscores the complexities surrounding patients’ rights to choose death over prolonged suffering. Her case raises some fundamental issues about the ethics of assisted dying. It reflects an accelerating torrent of shifts in the healthcare landscape in Canada.
