Parker was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2016, which eventually spread to her bones, causing her excruciating pain, and to her brain lining, which made her worry that she would eventually lose her lucidity. ( Andrew Vaughan / The Canadian Press ) 
 
 Hours before her death, Parker said in a Facebook post that she loved her life and had no regrets, but still wished she could have lived until Christmas. Parker made a public call for the government to amend the law to eliminate late-stage consent in situations like hers. When she decided to end her life she was in excruciating pain from tumours in her bones, and had recently learned that the cancer had spread to her brain lining. Parker’s lost battle for greater autonomy in medically assisted death has reignited a debate over Canada’s legislation on medically assisted death, which critics say forces terminally ill people to choose two equally unpalatable choices: a death that is premature, or one that is painful. Fisher said the report would not offer recommendations, but rather a summary “of the evidence of all the different perspectives.” “I do feel that we could have gone a little bit further on this and I’m looking forward to seeing that report come in December,” he said. “You have to walk that line between honouring legitimate directives, where people are suffering … But also you want to be able to avoid situations where you’re obligated to essentially kill people who are happy.” 
 
 Only three countries permit people to plan their death beforehand, and do not require competency at the moment of death: the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium. While the law has produced troubling situations like Parker’s, it also aims to protect vulnerable people, said Kaposy. You can copy and paste them into an email or text them to your MP asking for Ottawa to amend and remove late stage consent on MAID candidates in Audrey Parker’s category of Assessed and Approved MAID users,” she wrote.
– Audrey Parker used Canada's medically assisted death law to legally end her life—but a provision in that law forced her to do so months earlier than she wanted to. The Guardian looks at the 57-year-old's case and the debate it has generated: Parker's stage 4 breast cancer was painful and advanced enough that she qualified as having a "grievous and irremediable medical condition," as determined by two doctors. But the law requires that one be of sound mind at the time of his or her death—and with the Toronto Star reporting the cancer had moved into Parker's brain lining, she feared that if she held off, her lucidity might erode. "I would have liked to have really lived until Christmas. But I can't take the chance of losing my window," she told the Globe and Mail. So she opted for a premature death on Nov. 1. The Globe and Mail reports the provision was put in as a "safeguard," with the Guardian noting cases of dementia patients who request death but then forget they have done so and happily live out their last days. On the flip side, the provision has also forced others to reel in their painkiller dosage at the end, resulting in increased pain. Before Parker's death, she publicly advocated to have the law changed, and the Guardian reports federal justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould responded in the negative: "We're not considering changing something in the legislation." Parker discusses her experience in a lengthy obituary she wrote herself, which is filled with gratitude, features 10 pieces of advice, and ends with this: "Until we meet again, I leave you with a simple message: Be kind ... because you can." (This man had issues with the way he had to end his life.)