Canada’s controversial assisted-suicide program is moving into even darker territory as the nation accelerates its practice of harvesting organs from euthanasia victims.
The state-sanctioned practice, called “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD), has already claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2016, and is now fueling a growing supply of donor organs.
Ethicists are warning that the system risks pressuring vulnerable people into death for the benefit of healthier recipients.
As the Canadian government continues to expand its euthanasia regime, the MAiD program is generating a surge in the organ donation supply chain.
A Chilling First
The National Post reported that the heart of a 38-year-old Canadian man euthanised under MAiD was successfully harvested and transplanted into a 59-year-old American man with heart failure.
The case was the first known heart transplant following a state-administered lethal injection.
A report by The University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre and The Ottawa Hospital documented the procedure:
“Here we report the first case of successful cardiac transplantation after MAiD,” the medical team wrote.
“Provision of MAiD and death determination occurred in keeping with Canadian standards.
“Death was declared within seven minutes of initiating the MAiD protocol.”
The donor, who suffered from ALS, had volunteered to donate his organs.
Doctors removed the heart, attached it to a machine that “reanimates” or restarts the heart to keep blood flowing, and then sent it to Pittsburgh for the transplant.
A ‘World Leader’ in Organ Donation After Euthanasia
This was no isolated case, however.
Although this was the first heart transplant, there have already been numerous liver, kidney, and lung transplants from euthanised patients.
According to federal data, “at least 155 people in Canada have donated their organs and tissues after receiving a doctor-administered lethal injection” since 2016.
Canada has already become a “world leader” in organ donation after euthanasia (ODE).
A Dutch study showed that of 286 ODE cases up to 2021, 136 were Canadian.
According to CIHI data, 235 people have “consented” to organ donation after being euthanised, and 5 percent of all organ transplants in 2024 used organs from euthanised Canadians.
Pro-lifers and ethicists warn that this creates a deadly incentive.
As the report itself stated, “While longer-term data and data on additional cases will be required, this case suggests that safe cardiac transplantation can be performed after MAiD.”
‘Societal Pressure’ on the Vulnerable
Even pro-MAiD medical professionals admit the process is fraught.
A review cited by the National Post found that “how, and when, to approach people requesting MAiD about organ donation is controversial and varies in Canada.”
In Ontario and British Columbia, organ-donation groups recommend that patients be informed about the option; in Alberta and Manitoba, patients are not told unless they ask first.
“Not informing patients about the possibility of donation can prevent them from exploring the opportunity to donate their organs and negatively impact their autonomy,” the review’s authors wrote.
“While informing them of this possibility may cause undue societal pressure for donation, and the desire to become a donor may be a driver for the MAiD request.”
The authors also warned:
“Some patients may feel they are a burden to their family and friends and feel motivated to undergo MAiD to relieve this burden,” urging assessors to watch for “potential indicators that the patient may somehow be feeling pressured to proceed with MAiD or MAiD and organ donation.”
Given how lax Canadian MAiD oversight has been so far, many ethicists doubt assessors can be trusted to protect patients.
Reports show that up to a quarter of Ontario MAiD providers may have violated the criminal code.
What Organ Harvesting After Euthanasia Looks Like
The Belgian medical journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathophysiology detailed how such procedures are carried out: donors are brought to the hospital just hours before euthanasia, prepped with a central venous line and heparin to maintain organ viability, given a lethal drug cocktail, and then declared dead by three independent physicians before being rushed to an operating room for organ removal.
Ethicist Wesley J. Smith described one case as a “bitter irony.”
“Ponder the enormity of what was done here,” Smith wrote.
“Four people — who were not otherwise dying — were killed and then swiftly wheeled into a surgery suite to have their organs removed.
“Three of the donors were struggling with neuromuscular disabilities — people who often face social isolation and discrimination — and one was mentally ill.
“In a particularly bitter irony, the latter patient was a chronic self-harmer, the ‘treatment’ for which was a willing professional team ready to administer the ultimate harm.”
A Disturbing New Normal
Canada’s euthanasia system, already among the most permissive in the world, is now doubling as an organ-harvesting supply chain.
Critics warn the combination of assisted death and organ donation risks creating a highly profitable two-tier system where vulnerable people are railroaded into “voluntary” death to benefit healthier recipients.
Pro-lifers say it’s not compassion, it’s commodification.
And with organ donation after euthanasia now normalized and even celebrated in medical journals, the question is no longer whether Canada will expand the practice, but how far it will go.
READ MORE – Canadian Doctors’ Group: Euthanizing Severely Ill Babies Is ‘Appropriate’
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