'I could live 30 years - but plan to die': Has assisted dying in Canada gone too far?

6 hours ago Share Save Fergus Walsh Medical editor Camilla Horrox Global health producer Share Save

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April Hubbard sits on the theatre stage where she plans to die later this year. She is not terminally ill, but the 39-year-old performance and burlesque artist has been approved for assisted dying under Canada's increasingly liberal laws. Warning: This article contains details and descriptions some readers may find disturbing She is speaking to BBC News from the Bus Stop Theatre, an intimate auditorium with a little under 100 seats, in the eastern city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Illuminated by a single spotlight on a stage she has performed on many times before, she tells me she plans to die here "within months" of her imminent 40th birthday. She'll be joined by a small group of her family and friends. April plans to be in a "big comfy bed" for what she calls a "celebratory" moment when a medical professional will inject a lethal dose into her bloodstream. "I want to be surrounded by the people I love and just have everybody hold me in a giant cuddle puddle and get to take my last breath, surrounded by love and support," she says. April was born with spina bifida and was later diagnosed with tumours at the base of her spine which she says have left her in constant, debilitating pain.

BBC's Fergus Walsh meets people in Canada on both sides of the assisted dying debate

She's been taking strong opioid painkillers for more than 20 years and applied for Medical Assistance in Dying (Maid) in March 2023. While she could yet live for decades with her condition, she qualified to end her life early seven months after applying. For those who are terminally ill it is possible to get approval within 24 hours. "My suffering and pain are increasing and I don't have the quality of life anymore that makes me happy and fulfilled," April says. Every time she moves or breathes, she says it feels like the tissues from the base of her spine "are being pulled like a rubber band that stretches too far", and that her lower limbs leave her in agony. We meet April as, almost 3,000 miles away, MPs are scrutinising proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. They voted in principle in support of those plans in November 2024, but months of detailed scrutiny have followed - and further votes in the Commons and Lords are required before the bill could possibly become law. This week, the BBC witnessed a man's death in California, where assisted dying laws are far more similar to those being considered in Westminster. Critics say Canada is an example of the "slippery slope", meaning that once you pass an assisted dying law it will inevitably widen its scope and have fewer safeguards. Canada now has one of the most liberal systems of assisted dying in the world, similar to that operating in the Netherlands and Belgium. It introduced Maid in 2016, initially for terminally ill adults with a serious and incurable physical illness, which causes intolerable suffering. In 2021, the need to be terminally ill was removed, and in two years' time, the Canadian government plans to open Maid to adults solely with a mental illness and no physical ailment. Opponents of Maid tell us that death is coming to be seen as a standard treatment option for those with disabilities and complex medical problems. "It is easier in Canada to get medical assistance in dying than it is to get government support to live," says Andrew Gurza, a disability awareness consultant and friend of April's. Andrew, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, says he respects April's decision, but tells us: "If my disability declines and my care needs got higher, I'd still want to be here. To know there's a law that's saying you could easily end your life - it's just really scary."

Andrew Gurza is worried that getting support to live is too hard in Canada

Before she was approved for Maid, April was assessed by two independent physicians who were required to inform her of ways to alleviate her suffering and offer alternative treatments. "The safeguards are there," she says, when we press her about disabled people who feel threatened by assisted dying, or whether Maid is being used as a shortcut to better quality care. "If it's not right for you and you're not leading the charge and choosing Maid, you're not going to be able to access it unless it's for the right reasons," she adds. There were 15,343 Maid deaths in 2023, representing around one in 20 of all deaths in Canada - a proportion that has increased dramatically since 2016 and is one of the highest in the world. The average age of recipients was 77. In all but a handful of cases, the lethal dose was delivered by a doctor or nurse, which is also known as voluntary euthanasia. One doctor we spoke to, Eric Thomas, said he had helped 577 patients to die.

Dr Konia Trouton, president of the Canadian Association of Maid Assessors and Providers, has also helped hundreds of patients to die since the law was introduced. The procedure is the same each time - she arrives at the home of the person who has been given approval for Maid and asks if they wish to go ahead with it that day. She says the patients always direct the process and then give her the "heads up and ready to go". "That gives me an honour and a duty and a privilege to be able to help them in those last moments with their family around them, with those who love them around them and to know that they've made that decision thoughtfully, carefully and thoroughly," she adds. If the answer is yes, she opens her medical bag. Demonstrating to the BBC what happens next, Dr Trouton briefly puts a tourniquet on my arm. She shows me where the needle would be inserted into a vein in the back of my hand to allow an intravenous infusion of lethal drugs. In her medical bag she also has a stethoscope. "Strangely, these days I use it more to determine if someone has no heartbeat rather than if they do," she tells me. A list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line

Some 96% of Maid provisions are under "track one" where death is "reasonably foreseeable". Dr Trouton says that means patients are on a "trajectory toward death", which might range from someone who has rapidly spreading cancer and only weeks to live or another with Alzheimer's "who might have five to seven years". The other 4% of Maid deaths come under "track two". These are adults, like April, who are not dying but have suffering which is intolerable to them from a "grievous and irremediable medical condition". That is in stark contrast to Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, which says patients must be expected to die within six months. The Westminster bill would not allow doctors to give a lethal dose – rather patients would have to self-administer the drugs, usually by swallowing them. Death via intravenous infusion normally takes just a few minutes, as the lethal drugs go straight into the bloodstream, whereas swallowing the drugs means patients usually take around an hour or two to die, but can take considerably longer, although they are usually unconscious after a few minutes. Dr Trouton told me she regarded the Canadian system as quicker and more effective, as do other Maid providers. "I'm concerned that if some people can't swallow because of their disease process, and if they're not able to take the entire quantity of medication because of breathing difficulties or swallowing difficulties, what will happen?"

'Canada has fallen off a cliff'

But opponents argue it's being used as a cheaper alternative to providing adequate social or medical support. One of them is Dr Ramona Coelho, a GP in London, Ontario, whose practice serves many marginalised groups and those struggling to get medical and social support. She's part of a Maid Death Review Committee, alongside Dr Trouton, which examines cases in the province. Dr Coelho told me that Maid was "out of control". "I wouldn't even call it a slippery slope," she says "Canada has fallen off a cliff."

Dr Ramona Coelho says she wants to help patients to live

"When people have suicidal ideations, we used to meet them with counselling and care, and for people with terminal illness and other diseases we could mitigate that suffering and help them have a better life," she says. "Yet now we are seeing that as an appropriate request to die and ending their lives very quickly." While at Dr Coelho's surgery I was introduced to Vicki Whelan, a retired nurse whose mum Sharon Scribner died in April 2023 of lung cancer, aged 81. Vicki told me that in her mum's final days in hospital she was repeatedly offered the option of Maid by medical staff, describing it as like a "sales pitch". The family, who are Catholic, discharged their mother so she could die at home, where Vicki says her mum had a "beautiful, peaceful death". "It makes us think that we can't endure, and we can't suffer a little bit, and that somehow now they've decided that dying needs to be assisted, where we've been dying for years. "All of a sudden now we're telling people that this is a better option. This is an easy way out and I think it's just robbing people of hope."

'Not a way I want to live'

Alpine's Jack Doohan suffered a high-speed crash as Friday practice at the Japanese Grand Prix was punctuated by four red-flag stoppages.

The Australian was uninjured in the crash, which initial impressions suggested was caused by the DRS overtaking aid still being open as he entered the 160mph first corner.

Alpine have not commented on the cause of the incident, saying they are "assessing" it.

Doohan's was the first of four incidents that led to the session being stopped, two of which were for the grass catching fire beside the track.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri ended up fastest from team-mate Lando Norris.

The second stoppage was caused when Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso spun off and became beached in the gravel at Degner One, shortly after the session was restarted following a 20-minute delay to repair the damage to the barriers at Turn One.

And a few minutes after the session was resumed, the cars had to return to the pits when the grass caught fire between Dunlop and Degner One.

That left only seven minutes of running at the end of the session, but it was stopped after six when a bigger patch of grass caught fire on the run down to Spoon Curve.

White House fires National Security Agency chief

Just now Share Save Bernd Debusmann BBC News Reporting from Air Force One Share Save

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The Trump administration has fired Gen Timothy Haugh - the head of both the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command - the BBC's US partner CBS has reported. It is not clear why he was removed, but it comes after a meeting between President Donald Trump and far-right activist Laura Loomer on Wednesday. Ms Loomer reportedly urged Trump to fire specific employees whom she suspected lacked support for his agenda. She posted on X that Gen Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble, who US media reported was also let go, "have been disloyal to President Trump. That is why they have been fired." Before their firings were reported, Trump told reporters he would get rid of any staff deemed to be disloyal.

"We're always going to let go of people – people we don't like or people that take advantage of, or people that may have loyalties to someone else," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. Trump made the comments as reports emerged of the firings of at least three other officials at the White House National Security Council (NSC), following the reported meeting with Ms Loomer. The president did not confirm names. The National Security Agency (NSA) referred the BBC to the Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs for a comment on the firings. The White House previously told the BBC that the NSC "won't comment on personnel" matters. The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees - Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence - disclosed Gen Haugh's firing to CBS. Himes said in a statement that he was "deeply disturbed" by the decision, CBS reported. "I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who followed the law and put national security first — I fear those are precisely the qualities that could lead to his firing in this Administration," Himes said. Those fired from the NSC on Thursday included Brian Walsh, a director for intelligence; Thomas Boodry, a senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, a senior director overseeing technology and national security, CBS reported. It was not clear if Gen Haugh and Ms Noble's removals were connected to those at the NSC. The firings follow a major controversy involving the NSC last month when senior officials inadvertently added a journalist to a Signal messaging thread about military strikes in Yemen. Gen Haugh, who was not on the Signal chat, testified on Capitol Hill last week about the leak. The extent to which that controversy played a role in the firings is unclear. Trump has so far stood by top officials involved in the incident, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who took responsibility for the Atlantic magazine reporter being added to the Signal chat, and said it was an accident.

Getty Images Laura Loomer is a staunch Trump supporter

Rare Tudor paintings show 'fantastical beasts'

2 hours ago Share Save Catherine Lee BBC News, North East and Cumbria Share Save

Historic England The paintings were created using a secco technique where pigments are applied to dry plaster

Rare 16th Century wall paintings have been revealed at a former Tudor hunting lodge. The Grotesque-style images were found behind failing plasterwork at The Ashes, in Inglewood Forest, near Ivegill, Cumbria They feature fantastical beasts and foliage arranged in decorative panels, thought to be an imitation textile design. In addition, scientific dating has confirmed that some of the earliest timbers in the building date from the early years of the reign of Elizabeth I.

Jen and Richard Arkell, the owners of The Ashes, said: "A small fragment of wall painting - similar to that seen at nearby Dacre Hall - has been visible in the house since before we acquired the property over 20 years ago. "However, recent work to the primary upstairs bedroom revealed much more of the composition. "Removing old failing plaster to find these remarkable motifs and faces looking back at us is a moment we will never forget."

Historic England The Ashes is listed as Grade II*, reflecting its exceptional historic importance

Historic England Some of the roof timbers date from the early years of the reign of Elizabeth I

Recent scientific dating using dendrochronology - a technique that analyses tree growth rings to determine age - established that the earliest part of the roof used timber, which was felled in or around the winter of 1561 to 1562. The building has been given further recognition and protection by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England. As well as the Grade II* listing for the main building, it has been awarded Grade II listing to adjoining agricultural buildings and boundary walls.

Historic England The paintings were described as a "remarkable" find

Myra Tolan-Smith, from Historic England, said: "The combination of motifs discovered here is unusual even by national standards. "Together with the newly listed farm buildings, this discovery provides remarkable insight into the evolution of a significant Tudor hunting lodge into a working farm." Markus Campbell-Savours, MP for Penrith and Solway, said: "It's quite clear these paintings were a remarkable find and it's wonderful news that they have now been protected as part of the building's listing. "We can only hope that local people can enjoy them and the history of Cumbria for many years to come."

More on this story Heritage group consulted on future of blaze site

TV's Dr Oz confirmed to lead Medicare and Medicaid

The Republican-controlled US Senate voted to confirm Dr Mehmet Oz on Thursday

The 64-year-old, whose approaches have come under scrutiny, trained as a surgeon before finding fame on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the early 2000s.

On Thursday, he was confirmed to the role by the Republican-controlled US Senate by a party-line vote of 53-45.

Oz, who has never held public office, was picked last year by President Donald Trump to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Celebrity doctor and former TV host Mehmet Oz has been confirmed by the US Senate to run the agency that oversees the healthcare of millions of Americans.

Health experts have previously criticised Oz's promotion of what they deem to be bad health advice about weight-loss drugs and "miracle cures", and for suggesting malaria drugs could be used as a cure for Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic.

After picking Oz to lead CMS, Trump said in a statement there "there may be no physician more qualified and capable...to make America healthy again".

Ahead of his inauguration, Trump's transition team said Oz would "work closely" with US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to "take on the illness industrial complex".

The CMS oversees the country's largest healthcare programs, providing coverage to roughly half of Americans.

It regulates health insurance and sets policy that guides the prices that doctors, hospitals and drug companies are paid for medical services.

In 2023, the US government spent more than $1.4tn (£1.1tn) on Medicaid and Medicare combined, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Oz also hosted The Dr Oz Show, in which he offered health advice to viewers, from 2009 to 2022.

But he was scrutinised for recommending homeopathy, alternative medicine and other treatments that critics have called "pseudoscience".

Democrats have previously claimed a review of his financial records suggests Oz may not have paid $403,739 in Medicare taxes on more than $10 million of income from his media company between 2021 to 2023.

However, a spokesperson for Oz said a review by the Office of Government Ethics found he had complied with the law.