An Ontario grandmother wept after learning when she would die.
asserted
she → weep → ?
Her family disputes her consent, and police are investigating.
asserted
police → dispute → consent
A terrible test of the safeguards, says Mark P. Mostert.
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Mostert → say → safeguards
“Do you know that you’re going to die on Friday?” Brigitte Kranendonk asked her grandmother.
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Kranendonk → know → grandmother
The 83-year-old woman began to cry.
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woman → begin → ?
“I’ve made a mistake,” Brigitte Stegemann told her granddaughter, according to Kranendonk.
uncertain
Stegemann → make → Kranendonk
She wept for nearly an hour.
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She → weep → hour
This is not compassion if the person about to die cannot make herself understood.
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herself → die → ?
It is the machinery of death moving past the one vulnerable human being whose wishes should govern it.
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wishes → move → it
A physician had administered a lethal injection under Canada’s medical assistance in dying program.
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physician → administer → program
The question her family wants answered is as elementary as it is horrifying: Did she understand what was being done to her, and did she freely consent?
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she → want → her
The details come from Kranendonk’s account of her grandmother’s final days.
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details → come → days
They demand serious scrutiny, not a soothing recital of the word “choice.”
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They → demand → word
She had lived for about 18 months at a long-term care home in Cannifton, Ontario.
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She → live → Cannifton
She was hard of hearing, German was her first language, and her family says her understanding and memory were impaired.
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understanding → hear → hearing
Kranendonk had helped care for her for 12 years and held her power of attorney for six.
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Kranendonk → help → six
According to her family, Stegemann had previously rejected an assisted death because it violated her faith.
uncertain
it → accord → faith
Yet while Kranendonk was away on a 10-day trip, staff arranged a MAID assessment.
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staff → arrange → assessment
The granddaughter says she was told about the process only after it was under way.
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it → say → way
She had received routine updates about a fall and her grandmother’s need for a wheelchair, but nothing suggesting that death was now imminent.
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death → receive → wheelchair
When Kranendonk returned, she said, her grandmother was still eating, talking, and joking.
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grandmother → return → ?
At a subsequent eligibility assessment, Kranendonk says, the physician spoke of “medicine” and feeling “at peace,” without plainly explaining that the procedure would end Stegemann’s life.
“She doesn’t understand what you’re saying,” Kranendonk protested.
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Kranendonk → say → what
During questioning about her family, Stegemann gave answers her granddaughter knew were wrong.
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granddaughter → give → answers
She said she had no living siblings, though two survived.
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two → say → siblings
Kranendonk was then asked to leave.
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Kranendonk → ask → ?
Shortly afterward, she says, the physician announced that Stegemann had been deemed eligible for MAID.
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Stegemann → say → MAID
On Wednesday, July 8, Kranendonk asked to see the paperwork authorizing her grandmother’s death.
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Kranendonk → ask → death
She was told Stegemann had signed it the previous day.
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Stegemann → tell → it
Kranendonk says she has never seen the documents and does not know who witnessed the signature or how the request was explained.
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request → say → signature
That was when she asked her grandmother whether she knew she would die Friday.
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she → ask → grandmother
“I’ve made a mistake.”
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I → make → mistake
ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP via Getty Images
Kranendonk told her she could refuse.
uncertain
she → tell → her
The following day, they ate ice cream, shared memories, and danced to a traditional German polka.
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they → follow → polka
“We had the best day,” the granddaughter recalled.
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granddaughter → have → day
Such ordinary tenderness makes what followed almost unbearable to read.
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followed → make → ?
On Friday morning, according to Kranendonk, a nurse struggled repeatedly to insert an intravenous line, leaving her grandmother bleeding.
uncertain
nurse → accord → grandmother
When the doctor arrived, she asked whether it was all right to give Stegemann “medicine.”
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it → arrive → medicine
“My Oma is not moving.
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Oma → move → ?
She doesn’t open her eyes.
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She → open → eyes
She doesn’t nod.
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She → nod → ?
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
