By Canadian Press

Senator links drug used in botched U.S. lethal injections to assisted death in Canada

Dec 17, 2020 | 2:20 PM

OTTAWA — A Conservative senator is questioning why a drug blamed for botched executions in the United States is being used to provide medical assistance in dying in Canada.

Sen. Michael MacDonald says a sedative called midazolam has been at the centre of a number of court cases in the U.S. involving death penalty cases that were botched due to adverse reactions to the drug.

He wonders if there have been similar issues with assisted deaths in Canada that no one has heard about.

But Dr. Stefanie Green, president of the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers, says there have been no problems with the drug in assisted-dying cases.

She says it is used to put a person to sleep in a slow, gentle manner that is comforting to family members, before administering more powerful drugs to induce unconsciousness and death.

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Green says making an “ugly link” between assisted dying and executions is “enraging” and is a deliberate tactic to bolster opposition to doctor-assisted death.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2020.

The Canadian Press