A B.C. senior is speaking out after a simple trip to an emergency department last year, she says, took an unsettling turn.
For 83-year-old Miriam Lancaster, the experience started as she was getting out of bed one morning.
“I put my foot on the floor and had such excruciating and unusual pain that I called out,” said Lancaster.
Paramedics rushed Lancaster to Vancouver General Hospital, but when she arrived, she claims the initial treatment offered to her by a young doctor came as a shock.
“The admitting staff in the ER had whistled me into a bed, and she was the first medical person questioning me, and that’s where it all started,” said Lancaster.
She says the doctor began asking about medical assistance in dying (MAID).
“And I thought MAID? Good heavens, surely not MAID. And I wouldn’t take MAID under any circumstances.”
Lancaster’s daughter, Jordan Weaver, says her mother did not have a terminal condition.
“My mum is in wonderful health; we just wanted pain relief. And we wanted to know what had happened. It was difficult to identify where the pain had come from,” said Weaver.
Lancaster, who declined MAID, says doctors later identified the pain as a fractured sacrum — a bone in the base of the spine which is treated through bed rest.
While she healed in hospital, she says she received excellent care. In the year since her hospital trip, she’s been well enough to take other trips.
“My daughter and I do like to travel, so off we went to Cuba in the fall, that was the fall last year, and then this year in the spring, we went to Mexico and Guatemala.”
Weaver attests her mother is still “full of zip.”
“There’s no need for her to be thinking of ending her life.”
The pair don’t blame Vancouver Coastal Health or the doctor for proposing MAID, but raised concerns with how hastily it was offered as a first response.
“Just as soon as you arrive at the hospital, and you’re of a certain age, that is just offered before asking any questions. You’re already upset by being in hospital — nobody likes to be in hospital — so you’re already apprehensive, and then to be given a life-threatening question… That’s why I’m going public about this.”
Vancouver Coastal Health says it wasn’t aware of the incident, and, under current guidelines, staff may consider bringing up MAID based on their clinical judgement.
A statement from the health authority adds, “Staff are responsible for answering questions when patients bring up the topic of MAID. ED staff are not generally in a position to raise the topic of MAID with patients.”
Earlier this month, the Alberta provincial government introduced a new bill to implement safeguards around MAID and provide new frameworks to protect vulnerable individuals.
Lancaster says the same legislation should be considered in B.C.
“Hospitals should review their policy and not be so hasty to offer MAID,” she said.
When asked how B.C. might respond, the Ministry of Health did not provide a comment in time for broadcast.
A 2025 Statistics Canada report on MAID found B.C. was among the provinces with the most MAID provisions. Quebec, Ontario and B.C., it says, account for nearly 85 per cent of all MAID provisions in the country.
