An 84-year-old Canadian woman says she was shocked after being offered medically assisted suicide — before other treatment options — when she visited an emergency room suffering from “excruciating pain” in her back last year.
Miriam Lancaster, a resident of the province of British Columbia, recounted how quickly ER doctors at Vancouver General Hospital offered her Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) in response to the cause of her pain — a fractured sacrum, or a break in a bone at the base of the spine connected to the pelvis.
“I was approached by a young lady doctor whose very first words out of her mouth is, ‘We would like to offer you MAID.’ I was taken aback,” Lancaster recalled in a March 18 post on the social media platform X.
“That’s the last thing on my mind. [I] just wanted to find out why I was in pain and did not want to die.”
After rejecting assisted suicide, Lancaster spent a month in the hospital doing rehab and has since recovered from her injuries.
“[I] recuperated nicely enough that I could take some trips,” the retired piano teacher said.
“So my recovery has been amazing. And there was no need for MAID to even be suggested.”
I met an 84-year-old woman who was offered euthanasia at a Canadian hospital practically upon arrival.
Miriam didn’t want to die. She recovered well and travelled to Cuba, Mexico, and Guatemala.
Stop offering death to people who have adventures to lead! pic.twitter.com/ZjEfSaKmix
— Amanda Achtman (@AmandaAchtman) March 18, 2026