N.S. woman with painful condition seeks MAID amid battle to fund surgical treatment
CTV
A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes "indescribable" pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.
A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes "indescribable" pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.
Jennifer Brady completed her MAID application in June. She has lymphedema in her legs, a condition in which tissues swell from the accumulation of fluids normally drained through the body's lymphatic system.
In an interview Thursday, the 46-year-old mother of two said she has intense daily pain, skin infections that resemble a sunburn intensified "1,000 times," and blood infections that exhaust her to the point "you feel like you're dying."
However, Brady said that after she received treatment in Japan in 2022 -- at her own expense -- her swelling decreased, particularly in her right leg, and some symptoms were relieved. She said she believes that if she can receive the funds to pay for more surgery, her condition can improve -- as will her desire to remain alive.
The possibility that her health can improve is what led to her MAID request being denied.
In a letter sent to Health Minister Michelle Thompson on July 7, Dr. Gord Gubitz, the clinical lead of Nova Scotia's MAID program, said his team is rejecting Brady's application because her condition is not considered "irremediable."
