Alberta MAID limits would lead to suffering, signal lack of trust: practitioners

EDMONTON — More than two dozen Edmonton and area medical professionals say they’re concerned newly proposed limits on medical assistance in dying in Alberta would cause needless suffering and put clinicians in “ethically untenable” positions.

The 25 doctors, psychiatrists and nurse practitioners, all of whom work in the medical assistance in dying program, better known as MAID, have signed a statement saying they strongly oppose the restrictions announced last week.

The province’s legislation, if passed, would make MAID only available to those likely to die within 12 months while also prohibiting doctors from discussing it with patients unless they bring it up first. It also prohibits the display of MAID information, such as posters or pamphlets, in health-care settings and long-term care homes.

The Edmonton MAID practitioners call it a “significant step backward” and are calling on the government to reconsider.

“End-of-life policy must be shaped by our shared values of compassion, equity, and respect for individual autonomy,” the statement reads.

“Albertans facing intolerable suffering deserve a system that supports informed choice — not one that extinguishes it.”

The restricted eligibility would be somewhat similar to how the federal program began in 2016, though Alberta is going further since Ottawa originally hadn’t proscribed a time frame for when death was foreseeable. A Quebec court ruling a few years later led Ottawa to also make it available to those who suffer intolerably from diseases or disabilities, but who aren’t necessarily on a path toward a foreseeable death.

Disability advocates have celebrated the Alberta legislation, saying that social and economic conditions imposed on people with disabilities caused suffering, not living with a disability in itself.

But Dr. Alexandra McPherson, an Edmonton-based psychiatrist who helped write the practitioners’ statement, said in an interview that the legislation means a significant number of people would no longer be eligible for MAID, including those experiencing prolonged kidney, heart, lung or cognitive failures.

“You have end-organ disease, yet you are not in the last 12 months of life. This, in practice, excludes all of these people from applying for or being assessed for MAID, and there’s a huge amount of suffering in having end-organ failure or dementia,” she said.

“These are Albertans who are suffering — suffering in a really severe, enduring way.”

Dr. Adrian Wagg, a MAID assessor and University of Alberta professor of medicine who also signed the statement, said taking away choice was his biggest concern.

“Essentially the changes will condemn people with chronic neurodegenerative disease who are suffering to periods of undue suffering,” said Wagg, who specializes in geriatric medicine.

Premier Danielle Smith told reporters last week that she thought federal safeguards were falling short and that MAID should be reserved for those who won’t recover from terminal illness.

Alberta’s bill repeats many of the same safeguards currently in place under federal law, including the prohibition on children receiving MAID and on those deemed unable to make their own health-care decisions. It also similarly prohibits requests made in advance.

It also seeks to prohibit mental illness as a sole condition. Ottawa had planned in 2024 to allow it — depending on certain criteria and other safeguards. But the final decision was delayed until next year as debate continues.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery said in a statement that he understood MAID was a sensitive topic for many but that the government believes it’s doing the right thing.

“Canada has logged the fastest-growing rate of MAID deaths in the world,” he said.

“(The bill) ensures that there is a consistent process and oversight that protects vulnerable Albertans.”

Wagg said defining who is reasonably foreseeable to die within a year will be a challenge, and that expanding it to within two years would allow for more precise prognoses. Studies suggest that doctors are largely too optimistic about the outcomes their patients were facing, he said.

“I’m more on the spectrum of, if we’re going to allow choice, let’s allow choice of competent individuals,” Wagg said.

McPherson, who has been providing MAID assessments and services since the program began in 2016, said she also thought the restrictions proposed on clinicians and how MAID can be discussed were “really chilling.”

“The government wants to police what is said in a doctor’s office between a doctor and a patient,” she said.

“Do you not trust people to have information? Do you not trust people to give information?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2026.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press