The heartbroken parents of a young man are raising their voices in protest against Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) laws, contending that the system failed to safeguard their 26-year-old son, who had a history of mental illness. They believe their “vulnerable” son was led to euthanasia without adequate protection.
Kiano Vafaeian’s tragic end came on December 30, 2025, in British Columbia, leaving his family in a state of profound loss and questioning. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child, Kiano’s struggles with mental health intensified following a car accident at the age of 17, marking the beginning of a tumultuous journey.
Kiano’s mother, Margaret Marsilla, residing in Ontario, revealed that his depression was often linked to seasonal changes, but it took a darker turn after he lost vision in one eye in 2022. This event, she noted, led to his fixation on the idea of MAID. “He kept emphasizing how he could get approved,” Marsilla shared in an interview with Fox News Digital, expressing disbelief that any doctor would approve MAID for someone so young due to diabetes or partial blindness.
Canada legalized MAID in June 2016, permitting individuals with “grievous and irremediable” medical conditions to seek a physician-assisted or self-administered lethal drug to end their lives. This law, designed to offer an option for those in unbearable suffering, is now at the center of a heated debate, as families like the Vafaeians grapple with its implications and seek more stringent safeguards for vulnerable individuals.
“He kept on emphasizing about how he could get approved,” Marsilla told Fox News Digital. “We never thought there would be a chance that any doctor would approve a 22- or 23-year-old at that time for MAID because of diabetes or blindness.”
MAID was legalized in Canada in June 2016. The law allows patients with “grievous and irremediable” medical conditions to request a lethal drug that is either physician or self-administered, to end their lives.
In 2022, after a Toronto doctor initially approved Vafaeian’s request, the family launched a public pressure campaign on social media to voice their opposition.
The outcry led the doctor to withdraw approval. While Vafaeian was initially angry, his family said he showed signs of improvement over the following year, even moving in with them in 2024.
“He tried his best when he was in one of those good highs of life,” Marsilla said. “Then winter, fall started coming around, he started changing and then everything that we had worked for from spring and summertime just disappeared… he would start talking about MAID again.”
The family said Vafaeian was rejected by multiple doctors in Ontario before he sought out Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a prominent MAID provider, in British Columbia. Marsilla believes Wiebe “coached” her son on what to say to meet the criteria for “Track 2” patients — those whose natural deaths are not reasonably imminent.
“We believe that she was coaching him… on how to deteriorate his body and what she can possibly approve him for and what she can get away with approving him for,” Marsilla said. “Because if he had spoken back in 2024, and he was a good candidate for approving MAID, she would have done it right away, but she didn’t.”
Vafaeian’s parents say they were not notified of the approval and only learned of his death days after it occurred. They noted his medical records did not substantiate the “severe peripheral neuropathy” listed on his death certificate as a qualifying factor.
“This whole process came to us as a shock,” said Joseph Caprara, Vafaeian’s stepfather.
In 2021, eligibility for MAID was expanded to include applicants with “grievous and irremediable conditions” whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable.
The family is now advocating for the repeal of this “Track 2” provision and the passage of Bill C-218, a legislative effort to restrict MAID for patients whose underlying issue is solely mental illness.
“Realistically, safeguards for patients would be reaching out to their family members, giving them a whole bunch of different treatment options,” Marsilla said. Instead, she claims the current system allows doctors to approve and euthanize patients within 90 days on Track 2.Â
“How is that safe for patients?” she asked.
On Facebook, she wrote, “No parent should ever have to bury their child because a system—and a doctor—chose death over care, help, or love.”
Caprara said their family hopes sharing their story will expose the risks these laws pose to the “vulnerable and disabled” and give states and other countries pause before implementing similar legislation.
“We don’t want to see any other family member suffer, or any country introduce a piece of legislation that kills their disabled or vulnerable without appropriate proper treatment plans that could save their lives,” he said.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Dr. Wiebe said, “Like my colleagues, every patient I approve for Track 2 has unbearable suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition (not psychiatric) with an advanced state of decline in capability and consents to MAID fully informed about treatments to reduce the suffering.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an assisted suicide bill into law on Monday, making New York the 13th state, plus the District of Columbia, to legalize allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide. The law will go into effect in six months.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
