photo #9400365

𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐃𝐀 𝐄𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐎 Two days before her grandmother's assisted-dy∗ng appointment in Ontario, Brigitte Kranendonk needed to know her grandmother truly understood what was coming. “𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥∗𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺?” she asked her point-blank. Brigitte Stegemann — the 83-year-old the family called “Oma” — dissolved into tears for 45 minutes straight. “𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦,” she wailed. Stegemann had refused Medical Assistance in Dy∗ng months earlier, her Christian faith front and center in that refusal. “𝘕𝘰, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵,” she told her granddaughter clearly, fearing she'd displease God. But when Kranendonk took a 10-day road trip in June, the care home moved fast — booking a MAiD assessment without a single call to the woman who'd held medical power of attorney for six years. In the competency test meant to confirm she understood what she was agreeing to, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠, insisting her two living siblings were already dead. Forty-eight hours after she begged to take it back, Stegemann was dead — her hands clasped in prayer, her body covered in her own blood after a nurse allegedly missed the vein and jabbed her three or four times without gloves. “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥,” Kranendonk recalls. “𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘖𝘮𝘢'𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴.” Kranendonk believes staff saw a dy∗ng, vulnerable woman and 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. “𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺,” she says, accusing the practitioners of being ideologically driven to push the procedure through. It was the care home's very first MAiD case — and the practitioners still haven't spoken publicly, insisting behind closed doors that Stegemann legally consented. Kranendonk is now appealing to Ontario's Chief Coroner, the Patient Ombudsman, and Belleville Police, demanding answers for how a woman who couldn't name her own living siblings was cleared to consent to her own death. This is what Canada's 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝-𝐝𝐲∗𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 has become — a system aggressive enough to euthanize a devout Christian grandmother who explicitly said no, then leave her family to fight for answers while the people who wielded the needle stay silent behind the care home's walls. Stegemann spent her final decade fighting to keep living. It took the system 48 hours to erase all of it. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨. 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚'𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝-𝐝𝐲∗𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝. https://x.com/MichaelARothman/status/2101647009216368840