Price Carter, son of Lee Carter (in foreground photo), pauses during a news conference at British Columbia Civil Liberties in Vancouver.The Canadian Press
A decade ago, Price Carter’s mother was at the forefront of a landmark legal battle that resulted in Canada’s highest court recognizing the right of consenting adults to access doctor-assisted deaths if they suffered “intolerable suffering.”
Kay Carter lived with excruciating spinal stenosis and used a wheelchair. No doctor could legally help her die in Canada, so the 89-year-old travelled to Switzerland in 2010 where she ate chocolates before a physician gave her medication to die.
Five years later, the Supreme Court of Canada ruling, known as the Carter decision, was handed down, prompting the Liberal government to legalize medical assistance in dying (MAID) in certain circumstances. The law was challenged in court and in March 2021, new legislation was passed that expanded eligibility.
Today, Mr. Carter, a 68-year-old retired pilot from Kelowna, B.C., will not have to travel as far to avail himself of the assisted-dying law that his mother fought for.
He learned last spring that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Earlier this month, Mr. Carter applied for medical assistance in dying – a request that will most likely be granted given his terminal condition.
He tires easily. He enjoys golf, but he doesn’t have as much energy for the game. Instead, he gardens or fixes the pool.
“I’m okay with this; I’m not sad,” he said in a video interview on Wednesday. “I’m not clawing for an extra few days on the planet. I’m just here to enjoy myself. When it’s done, it’s done.”
MAID has long been contentious, prompting debates on whether the procedure should be legal and who should qualify.
Some current legal cases underscore concerns raised by family members who say their loved ones should not have qualified for MAID because of their mental illness, such as one involving a 52-year-old man who received the procedure while out on a day pass from a Vancouver psychiatric institution.
The federal government has also faced calls to strengthen safeguards but says MAID is only available in circumstances where eligibility criteria are met. Last year, Ottawa delayed access to MAID for individuals whose sole underlying condition is mental illness until 2027.
Last October, Quebec became the first province in Canada to allow requests for MAID by a competent individual that would be honoured later. Ottawa initiated discussions with provinces and territories on advance requests last year and a report is expected this spring.
From his home in Kelowna, Mr. Carter warned many aging Canadians will not be able to access MAID because advance requests are not permitted in any other provinces and territories.
A pre-determination, he said, allows individuals the comfort of knowing they are not “going to be drooling in a chair for years” because their wishes have not been met. He remembered his mother’s friend visiting on weekends and quipping that he could give her a bottle of pills if she wanted to take her life.
Dying with Dignity Canada, a national charity that advocates for access to MAID, is urging the federal government to address the issue of advanced requests. It points to polling figures that show a vast majority of Canadians support advanced requests for MAID.
Helen Long, who heads the organization, said there are outstanding legislative issues, but she said the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2010 was a “momentous triumph” that has allowed Canadians to be surrounded by loved ones when they die and to not endure further suffering.
“We are grateful that Kay’s legacy affords Price the chance to choose the timing and manner of his death, without having to travel out of country.”
Mr. Carter said he is at peace with the road ahead. He isn’t interested in condolences or platitudes. In fact, he spends a lot of time cracking jokes, including about death. And even if he were to adopt a different attitude about his medical condition, he knows it wouldn’t change a thing. He knows he is going to die.
He’s had one medical assessment for MAID and expects a second this week. If his application is approved, he could be dead by summer’s end.
He envisions his three children, Grayson, Lane and Jenna, and his spouse Danielle will be with him and that he will die in the hospice room at the local hospital. He isn’t interested in dying at home because of how it would reshape the space for his spouse.
On the eve of his passing, he suspects he will be playing games with his kids. Jenna, he said, is fond of Codenames.
What comes next is straightforward in his mind.
“Five people walk in, four people walk out, and that’s okay,” he said. “One of the things that I got from my mom’s death was it was so peaceful.”
Kay Carter’s experience of dying did not align with commonly held perceptions of the end-of-life as an ugly experience, he said.
“When it was with my mom, it was one of the greatest learning experiences ever to experience a death in such a positive way,” he said. “If I can give that to my children, I will have been successful.”
