Case reference: MAID-QC-2020-EX6B · Montréal, Quebec · Died by MAID · Recorded by the register as a MAID victim
Who he was
Jean Truchon lived in Montreal. He had cerebral palsy from birth and had lost the use of all four limbs. He lived at the CHSLD Paul-Émile-Léger, a long-term care centre in Montreal.
He is known across Canada as one of the two plaintiffs, with Nicole Gladu, in Truchon c. Procureur général du Canada. In September 2019, Quebec Superior Court Justice Christine Baudouin struck down the requirement that a person’s natural death be reasonably foreseeable, a ruling that led to Track 2 MAID.
What happened
Truchon had planned to die by MAID on 22 June 2020, so that he could spend more time with family and friends. Then the COVID-19 pandemic reached Quebec’s long-term care centres. The Globe and Mail noted that such facilities were often short-staffed, and that they had been hit hard across the country, with hundreds of cases and dozens of deaths among residents. La Presse reported that the pandemic was decimating CHSLD residents across Quebec.
On 7 April 2020, at 2 p.m., he received MAID at the CHSLD Paul-Émile-Léger, almost 11 weeks ahead of his plan. He was 51. The Globe and Mail wrote that the outbreak had “forced” him “to hasten his own death.”
Why they were pushed toward MAID
In a statement released after his death by his lawyers, Truchon explained that the pandemic had taken what he had been living for. “Before this pandemic, I had all the misery in the world keeping my head above water with all my activities,” he wrote (our translation; in French: « Avant cette pandémie, j’avais toute la misère du monde à garder la tête hors de l’eau, avec toutes mes activités »). “The Coronavirus has literally stolen my time with those I love. Seeing what is coming frightens me the most. Therefore, I made the decision to leave now and this was well thought out,” he wrote, as translated by The Globe and Mail.
A disabled man living in an institution, cut off from the people he loved by confinement rules and frightened by what was coming, moved his death forward. The isolation imposed on long-term care residents did not cause his wish for MAID, but it took away the months he had chosen to live.
What their family says
Truchon asked that no further comment be made and no interviews be given. His statement ended: « Je vous demande d’essayer de me comprendre et non pas de me juger. Merci à tous. » (“I ask you to try to understand me and not to judge me. Thank you all.”)
What this case shows
Jean Truchon’s legal fight changed Canada’s MAID law. His death shows what happens when a disabled person’s remaining time depends on visits, company and activities that an institution can take away overnight. Eleven weeks of his life were lost to the conditions in Quebec’s CHSLDs in the spring of 2020.
Sources
- Radio-Canada: Jean Truchon a reçu l’aide médicale à mourir
- The Globe and Mail: Jean Truchon, MAID advocate, receives assisted death early because of coronavirus fears
- La Presse: Aide médicale à mourir: Jean Truchon est décédé
- Ménard, Martin, avocats (CNW Telbec): Jean Truchon reçoit l’aide médicale à mourir
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