Case reference: MAID-BC-2022-5WV2 · Vancouver, British Columbia · Died by MAID · Recorded by the register as a MAID victim
Who he was
J.M.M. was a 52-year-old Vancouver-area businessman and father of three. Court filings identify him only by initials. He had a long history of mental illness and was formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 2013. He also had chronic back pain. His former spouse, his father and his three children are the plaintiffs in a wrongful-death action filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in December 2024.
What happened
According to the notice of claim, J.M.M. was approved for MAID, then said he did not wish to proceed and wanted rehabilitation and other treatments instead. The family raised concerns about capacity, eligibility and financial pressure and say they received no response. In late 2022 they obtained a court order under B.C.’s Mental Health Act committing him to the psychiatric ward at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. Treating physicians there, the claim says, opined that he should not receive MAID because his mental illness impaired his capacity to consent.
Nonetheless, the claim alleges, he was allowed to leave on a day pass. That afternoon he went to a clinic associated with Dr. Ellen Wiebe — named in the suit along with Willow Reproductive Health Centre — and died by MAID. The family say they were not told he had left the hospital until after he was dead.
Why they were pushed toward MAID
In the family’s account, a man whose family had used the Mental Health Act to protect him was released into a MAID death the same day. They say his back pain was neither grievous nor irremediable, that mental illness impaired his capacity, and that Canada fails people who have concurrent mental and physical illness by letting the mental-illness exclusion fall away once a physical diagnosis is present. Professor Trudo Lemmens told the National Post the case would confirm, if proven, “serious concerns that non-specialists feel comfortable to end the life of persons with mental illness who need care and protection.”
Providence Health Care, which operates St. Paul’s, declined to comment. Wiebe did not comment. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
What their family says
“JMM received approval for medical assistance in dying, but he subsequently expressed that he did not wish to proceed with the procedure and instead, he wished to pursue other treatments, including rehabilitation,” the claim reads. “Regrettably, while receiving treatment at St. Paul’s Hospital for his incapacitating illness, JMM left the hospital on a day pass, visited a clinic in the afternoon, and died through the improper administration of MAiD.”
What this case shows
A family locked the door to keep a bipolar father alive. The suit says the system opened it on a day pass, and he never came home. His case shows how MAID can outrun the Mental Health Act protections meant to stop a vulnerable person deteriorating.
Sources
- CBC News: Family sues after man allegedly got medically assisted death during day pass from hospital
- National Post: B.C. family alleging wrongful death after man euthanized while on day pass from psychiatric ward
- CityNews Vancouver: Family says man received MAID on psychiatric day pass, files wrongful-death lawsuit
- X post by @MichaelARothman: Resurface of JMM day-pass MAID wrongful-death claim (30 Sep 2026)
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