How Robert Munsch could qualify for MAID, even though he's not dying

Dementia is a “qualifying, stand-alone diagnosis” for euthanasia in Canada, provided people have the capacity to make a reasoned decision and don’t lose capacity before they want their lives ended, according to Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) providers.

Canadian children’s author Robert Munsch, who turned 80 this summer, revealed in a profile in The New York Times this week that, shortly after being diagnosed with dementia in 2021, he applied, and was approved for, MAID. Article content Article content

While the celebrated author has chosen to die by MAID, his daughter Julie Munsch later made it emphatically clear in a Facebook post that her father “IS NOT DYING.”

“My dad is doing well but of course with a degenerative disease it can begin to progress quickly at any point