Slowing the Slide Down the Slippery Slope of Medical Assistance in Dying: Mutual Learnings for Canada and the US

Figures & data

Table 1. Canada–California comparison—2020/2021^a.

MAiD (Canada)—End-of-Life Option (California)
Comparative statistics	Canada 2020	Canada 2021	California 2020	California 2021
Number of requests	9,375	12,286	Not reported	Not reported
Number of approvals	7,384	12,165	677	772
Number of deaths	7,595	10,064	435	486
Death via lethal injection	7,588	10,057	0	0
Death via oral protocol	7	7	435	486
Assisted deaths as percentage of all deaths	2.5%	3.3%	0.15%	0.15%
Percentage of requests withdrawn (not completed)	2.5%	1.9% (13.1%)	28.5%	37%
Total assisted deaths 2016 through 2020/2021	21,589	31,664	2,858	3,344

^aThe annual reports issued in either jurisdiction are at times ambiguous in the manner that numbers are reported. This is due in part to the fact that patients approved for an assisted death in one year may not complete the act until the following year. In some cases particular details reported in one year are excluded in subsequent years, or conversely, details excluded in a previous report might be included in a subsequent report.