An 83-year-old Christian grandmother in Ontario was euthanized under Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program this summer, and her family says she never gave her final consent, Fox News reports.
Brigitte Stegemann died by lethal injection on July 10 at The Pearl, a care home in Cannifton, Ontario, after being diagnosed with Stage IV stomach cancer.
Family members claim that Stegemann, a devout Christian, had already turned down MAID because it went against her faith.
"No, I don't want that," Stegemann told relatives, according to the family, who said that her wish was to die naturally.
Stegemann's granddaughter and longtime caregiver, Brigitte Kranendonk, said the process moved forward anyway, and sped up while she was away on vacation.
The family alleges later assessments showed Stegemann couldn't keep basic family details straight, though a doctor still found her eligible.
Two days before the scheduled procedure, Kranendonk said she asked her grandmother point-blank whether she understood she was going to die that Friday.
Stegemann broke down and cried for about 45 minutes, then said she had made a "mistake," according to the family.
Relatives also claimed that at one point she ripped out a medical port while screaming that she didn't want "the death shot."
Kranendonk said the morning of July 10 was chaotic. A nurse's first attempt to insert an IV failed, leaving blood on Stegemann, her bedding and the floor.
When the doctor arrived and asked about giving her "medicine," Kranendonk said her grandmother didn't speak, nod or open her eyes, while her hands were folded in prayer.
The doctor went ahead with the euthanization and Stegemann was dead within roughly 10 minutes.
Kranendonk said her grandmother gave "no acknowledgment, no head nod, nothing" that morning, and that a final verbal check for consent was promised before the injection but never happened.
Relatives also alleged paperwork was completed after Stegemann had already died, and that the care home hadn't handed over records that they requested.
On top of a police investigation, the family has filed complaints with Ontario's chief coroner and the provincial patient ombudsman.
The Pearl and Belleville Police did not respond to Fox News' requests for comment. A Belleville Police spokesman confirmed to the Daily Mail that the case is open with the force's Criminal Investigations Division. The care home and the practitioners involved have not commented publicly but reportedly maintain Stegemann legally consented.
Canada legalized assisted suicide in 2016 and expanded eligibility in 2021, dropping the requirement that a patient's natural death be "reasonably foreseeable." Critics have long warned the system puts elderly and vulnerable Canadians at risk.
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