Brigitte Kranendonk is demanding multiple investigations after her 83-year-old grandmother died under Canada’s assisted-death program.
Kranendonk, the primary caregiver for Brigitte Stegemann, said she had placed her grandmother at The Pearl care home in Cannifton, Ontario, because of physical and mental decline. The elderly woman still had a good appetite even after a stomach cancer diagnosis, and had rejected medical assistance in dying when it was first mentioned as an option, according to her granddaughter’s account.
Everything shifted in June while Kranendonk was away on a 10-day road trip with her husband. She remained in regular contact with the facility and was told her grandmother had fallen and would need a wheelchair, but heard nothing about any dramatic decline. Then, on July 3, near the end of her trip, she received a call informing her that the home planned to arrange a MAiD assessment for Stegemann.
When Kranendonk returned, she asked a nurse at The Pearl who had initiated the assisted-death conversation. “The nurse became very abrasive, very defensive,” she said. “She was like, ‘Well, I’m just trying to advocate for her. I’m just trying to do what’s right for her.'”
By then, Stegemann had already undergone her first MAiD consultation. Kranendonk alleged that her grandmother struggled during a mental-capacity assessment, incorrectly answering questions about members of her own family. She was present for the second assessment, where she said the doctor used “really loose terms, never using the words death or dying.”
“She explains MAID to my grandmother by saying: ‘We’re going to give you medicine, you’re going to feel at peace. And I just want you to know that you won’t have a bowel movement,'” Kranendonk said.
When Kranendonk interjected and said, “She doesn’t understand what you’re saying,” the doctor allegedly looked at Stegemann and said, “We’re going to make sure you won’t have any more pain.” A doctor then declared that Stegemann was “deemed fit for MAID, and we’re going to proceed.”
Two days before the scheduled procedure, Kranendonk asked her grandmother directly whether she understood that it meant she would die. According to Kranendonk’s account, Stegemann began crying and said she had “made a mistake,” Kranendonk said a doctor had told her that her grandmother could deny MAiD on the day itself, but she was already unsure whether valid consent had ever been given, did not want to cause additional stress, and wanted to cherish what time remained.
On July 10, the day of the procedure, Kranendonk said the nurse administering the IV was not wearing gloves and struggled to insert it into her grandmother’s right arm, piercing her repeatedly and leaving “blood all over the place.” The doctor then entered and told Stegemann she was there to give her “medicine.”
“My Oma is not moving,” Kranendonk said. “She doesn’t open her eyes. She doesn’t nod. She doesn’t say anything, and the doctor just said: ‘Okay, well, I’m going to proceed.'” Stegemann was dead within 10 minutes.
Kranendonk said she now wishes she had applied for a legal injunction to stop the procedure, but was unaware she had that option. She is appealing to the Chief Coroner’s Office in Ontario, the Patient Ombudsman, and Belleville Police to investigate whether what occurred was legal.
In a statement, Kranendonk said, “My grandmother was a vulnerable senior who was let down when the doctors and home bypassed every safeguard put in place to protect her — from assessing her mental capacity, to getting her clear, final consent before acting and the home filling out paperwork and having her sign when we were not there, and giving us copies. I will not stop until there is a full investigation into how this was allowed to happen behind closed doors.”
Mira Metter, director of “Broken Country,” a film about Canada’s decline over the last two decades, said in a statement, “What is particularly troubling about this case is that it raises questions Canadians should be asking about whether MAID’s safeguards are protecting vulnerable people as intended,” Metter added, “A compassionate healthcare system should ensure that when someone is at their most vulnerable, every reasonable avenue for care and support has been explored before death is presented as an option. MAID may be legal in Canada, but legality cannot be the end of the conversation.”
Laura Echevarria, communications director and press secretary for National Right to Life, said in a statement, “Euthanasia and assisted suicide cross a line medicine should never cross: from caring for patients to intentionally ending their lives. The most vulnerable among us deserve protection, compassion, and care—not death presented as medical treatment. No safeguard can undo a mistake once a patient is dead.”
Canada’s MAiD law, which legalized euthanasia in 2016, is responsible for one in every 20 deaths in the country.
Kranendonk’s appeals to Ontario authorities are pending.