Judge protects B.C. Alzheimer’s patient from husband ‘trying to kill her’
B.C. man spoke openly about a ‘death plan’ for his 77-year-old wife if she became ineligible for MAID, over her objections
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A 77-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s has been granted protection “against the likelihood of death at the hands of her husband” by the B.C. Supreme Court.
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The case involves a woman, identified in court files as E.W., and her husband, identified as T.W.. T.W. is a strong advocate for medical assistance in dying (MAID) and even spoke openly about a “Death Plan” for his wife, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2017, Justice B. Smith wrote in his reasons for judgment.
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The “Death Plan,” as it was described by T.W. to family, friends and health-care workers, was to “end” E.W.’s life if she became ineligible for MAID (which she eventually did) and then “take his own life.”
The issue was brought to the Supreme Court after the Vancouver Island Health Authority, a publicly funded health care provider, raised concerns about the well-being of E.W. “E.W. never expressed agreement with the Death Plan. On the contrary, E.W. was understandably upset by it. E.W. expressed to (their daughter) S.T. that T.W. was trying to kill her,” the court document says.
After E.W.’s diagnosis, health-care providers suggested that she and her husband plan for future care, as her illness was progressing.
In November 2018, the couple and their daughter, S.T., made a representation agreement — a legal document that authorizes a person to be a substitute decision maker in B.C. law if a person cannot speak for themselves, according to B.C. Centre for Palliative Care.
T.W. was selected as E.W.’s authorized representative, and their daughter was an alternative.
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E.W. was deemed eligible for MAID in the summer of 2020, according to the judgment. However, in September 2021, she told one of the doctors who assessed her “that she was not interested in receiving MAID in circumstances related to worsening memory or confusion.”
In a report from the doctor to Island Health, E.W. was later assessed as ineligible because “she was incapable of providing the requisite consent.”
The report determined that if “T.W. learned that E.W. was ineligible for MAID, he planned to carry out the Death Plan, which he referred to as a “dignicide.” It also said that at the time, E.W. “expressed that she was not ready to die” and that due to her “cognitive impairment…she was a vulnerable adult at risk of abuse and neglect.”
Island Health decided to petition for E.W.’s protection.
“Island Health did not believe that E.W. was then being abused or neglected by T.W., but was concerned that E.W. did not perceive herself as having any cognitive or functional limitations and therefore was unable to take care of herself in relation to the Death Plan,” wrote Smith in the judgment.
During wellness checks, T.W. told nurses about plans he was actively involved in to prepare for both his and his wife’s deaths. This included “paying for funeral services and grave sites, selling assets and distributing the proceeds, preparing obituaries and creating memorabilia as part of their collective legacy.”
In 2022, Island Health exercised its emergency powers to move E.W. from their home to a nearby hospital, as specialists said her condition was worsening. She remains in a facility.
In court documents, T.W. was described as “dominating” discussions about end-of-life planning. The couple’s daughter spoke to her mother alone to determine what she wanted. E.W. told her daughter that “if she ever became highly dependent on others, she wished to go into long-term care, as she would ‘not want to burden family with her care.’”
In the Dec. 17 document, the court ordered that the couple’s daughter replace her father as E.W.’s personal representative. T.W. was found to be unsuitable.
Critics of MAID have pointed to how it can affect vulnerable people. Commenting on a post about the case on X, British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society wrote: “Pretty sure this is what they told all of us…They caught this case, but how many other ‘dignicide’ (that’s apparently a new slang for murder) cases did they miss.”
Advocates say it allows eligible people the option to die with dignity on their own terms.
Parliament passed federal legislation allowing eligible adults in Canada to request MAID in June 2016.
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