- A 31-year-old Canadian woman with chronic illness is seeking a medically assisted death.
- Denise told CTV News that she has failed to find affordable housing that doesn't worsen her illness.
- "Relieved and elated," is how Denise said she was feeling about her impending death.
"Abject poverty" has led a 31-year-old Canadian woman to pursue medically assisted death after a futile search for affordable housing failed to produce an apartment that doesn't exacerbate her illness, according to CTV News.
The Toronto woman — identified in the outlet's report by the pseudonym Denise — lives with several chronic illnesses, including Multiple Chemical Sensitives, which causes rashes, difficulty breathing, and hemiplegic migraines that can lead to temporary paralysis.
The illness means chemicals such as cigarette smoke, laundry fumes, and air fresheners make Denise extremely ill, according to CTV, putting her at constant risk of anaphylactic shock and possibly-fatal allergic attacks. A previous spinal cord injury has also rendered Denise a wheelchair user, the outlet reported.
Because of the seriousness of her conditions, Denise has spent months searching for a wheelchair-accessible apartment that has cleaner air. Dr. Riina Bray, one of Denise's physicians, told CTV that Denise needs "immediate relocation for her safety."
The doctor added that people living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities often start to improve in environments that are chemically cleaner, and Denise, herself, told the outlet that her symptoms have lessened significantly when she's been able to stay at a wheelchair-accessible hotel with cleaner air — a short-term fix made possible by donations from friends and supporters, but a solution which Denise said is "not sustainable."
Denise told the outlet that she and her friends have called 10 different agencies in Toronto over the last six months looking for housing that offers reduced chemical and smoke exposure within her price range — a total monthly income of only $1,169, which comes from Ontario's Disability Support Program.
"None of them were able to do anything meaningful in terms of getting me relocated, getting the discretionary emergency, or temporary housing and emergency funds," Denise told the outlet.
Amid the frustration of her unsuccessful search, Denise said she began her application for medically assisted death in the summer of 2021. The process involved several "sign-offs" from physicians, including a psychiatrist who approved her mental competency, a medically assisted death provider who reviewed her history, and another physician who is now finalizing her end-of-life documents.
Denise told the outlet that she has asked to waive the 90-day waiting period required of "Track Two" cases like hers, where natural death isn't quickly looming.
As she awaits final approval, Denise said the prospect of her impending death makes her feel at ease.
"Relieved and elated," Denise told CTV. "I was scared that they weren't going to say 'yes.'"
Medically assisted death in Canada was first approved by the Senate in June 2016 as a way to ease the pain of those who were close to dying. But in March 2021, the government expanded the legislation to include people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
David Fancy, a disability rights advocate who has been assisting Denise, told CTV that he fears the policy may encourage those who are losing hope to make the difficult decision to end their lives.
"The gauntlet tends to push people in the direction of the legislation that is there," Fancy told the outlet. "I've got a very significant concern that this is the tip of the iceberg."
Devorah Kobluk, a senior policy analyst with the Income Security Advocacy Centre in Toronto, echoed his sentiments, telling CTV that many people living with disabilities struggle with poverty.
Earlier this year, CTV reported an eerily similar story about another Canadian woman living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities who received a medically assisted death in February after she too failed to secure chemically clean housing.