A seriously debilitated woman has been shocked by twice being offered assisted suicide in the course of her medical treatment.

Tracy Polewczuk has spina bifida and has been receiving special treatment for the last two years after she suffered a leg break that never properly healed.

On two separate occasions and without prompting, she says she was informed that she would be eligible for medical assistance in dying (MAID), once by a nurse at the rehabilitation centre at Ste-Anne’s Hospital and another time by a social worker at the Verdun Hospital.

“It feels like we are being pushed towards the MAID program instead of being given the help to live,” Polewczuk said.

Doctor Paul Saba, a family physician, says that it’s seen as a recommendation whenever a doctor makes a suggestion or a health care worker.

In 2022, more than 4,800 Quebecers opted for medical assistance in dying, more than any other province in Canada. Those figures raise serious questions for this patient’s rights advocate.

“My theory is that a lot of those people who have asked and gotten medical help to die, that they might have been in circumstances where they had no other choice.”