A newly published report at Lifenews stunning outlines how a family charges a Canadian grandmother was, under that nation’s dangerous assisted suicide agenda, euthanized without her explicit consent.
Brigitte Stegemann, 83, died in July by lethal injection at The Pearl, a long-term care facility in Belleville, Ontario, where she had lived for several years.
She had been diagnosed with Stage IV stomach cancer several months earlier, but when she was asked about the nation’s Medical Assistance in Dying procedures, her family confirmed she “clearly stated that she did not wish to pursue it.”
Cited was her status as a devout Christian, and the fact the practice conflicted with her beliefs and faith.
A granddaughter, also named Brigitte, held legal power of attorney and had served as her primary caregiver and advocate for more than 12 years, responding routinely to facility staff concerns about her grandmother, the report said.
“While the granddaughter was away on a 10-day vacation, facility staff held private discussions with Stegemann about MAiD without informing her family or any advocate. The family was never given a clear answer about who initiated those conversations, a serious concern given Stegemann’s diminished capacity, severe hearing impairment—she was completely deaf in her left ear and had very limited hearing in the right—and frequent periods of lethargy and unresponsiveness,” the report explained.
It documented how, during an “assessment,” Stegemann’s physician had to repeat multiple questions because of her hearing loss, and she many times gave incorrect answers, such as about her siblings, 13 of them.
She claimed she had none.
“She became disoriented, began to cry, and said, ‘I forgot about the grandkids,’ confusing her living siblings with her great-grandchildren,” the report confirmed.
Then a “physician” ordered the family to leave and came out of the room shortly later having “deemed her capable of making her own decisions,” and that she had consented to assisted suicide.
Their distress was amplified later, the report said, when they found “the death date had been set before any official MAiD application paperwork was completed. Facility staff, including the home manager, then filled out and witnessed the forms themselves without notifying the power of attorney, despite the family’s daily visits.”
The report said on the fatal day, “an intravenous line was inserted amid what the family described as a significant, alarming amount of blood covering Stegemann, the bedding, and the surrounding area. When the physician arrived, Stegemann remained silent, her hands held in a prayer position, and gave no verbal response.”
Even though the family “had been strictly assured that Stegemann would be asked for a final, explicit verbal confirmation on the day of the procedure to ensure she still wished to proceed,” the report said, family members said in a statement, “Tragically, we were left alarmed and horrified when the clinical team completely ignored her silence and carried the procedure forward regardless.”
Stegemann soon died.
Lifenews explained, “In their account, the family described what happened as ‘a systemic failure driven by clinical arrogance, a total lack of transparency, and a blatant disregard for the safeguards meant to protect vulnerable patients.'”
The report charged, “Once a vulnerable patient had explicitly declined MAiD because it violated her Christian faith, the facility should never have targeted her for re-evaluation behind closed doors while her primary advocate was away—especially when staff had no difficulty contacting the granddaughter daily for routine decisions.”
The family now wants Stegemann’s death to serve as a “warning and an urgent call for greater clinical transparency, mandatory family inclusion for cognitively vulnerable patients, and strict legal accountability for facilities that operate outside the law.”
Canada has confirmed more than 100,000 such “procedures” since it legalized MAiD in 2016.
