Miriam Lancaster is 84 years old. She was taken to Vancouver General Hospital by ambulance after waking up with severe back pain. Before a single test was run, a doctor's first words were: "I'd like to offer you MAID." She said no. She had a small fracture in her sacrum. A month later she was riding a horse up a volcano in Guatemala.

The Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers has publicly confirmed there is no prohibition on practitioners proactively offering MAID before assessment. This is not one doctor's mistake. This is the system working as designed.

In 2024, 16,499 Canadians died by medical assistance in dying — 1 in every 20 Canadian deaths. Canada now has the second highest euthanasia rate in the world. And on March 17, 2027, Canada is scheduled to expand MAID to people whose sole qualifying condition is a mental illness.

In this episode, Kelsi Sheren covers:

— The complete Miriam Lancaster story in her own words

— Why the data shows this is not an outlier

— What Alberta's Bill 18 does — and why it matters that only one province has acted

— What a veteran who has sat with people at rock bottom knows about mental illness and the word "irremediable"

— The people who can't say no — and what the system owes them instead

If you have a story about MAID being offered too early or without proper assessment, Kelsi wants to hear it. Coaching@kelsisheren.com

The Kelsi Sheren Perspective covers Canadian political accountability, healthcare policy, and what leadership actually looks like — daily.

00:00 — What the doctor said first

01:00 — The full Miriam Lancaster story

05:30 — The data: 16,499 deaths, 1 in 20 — this is not an outlier

09:00 — To people who support MAID: what I'm actually saying