Long Covid sufferer applies for voluntary euthanasia
After suffering with long Covid for over two years, a Canadian woman believes she has been left with no choice but to apply for voluntary euthanasia.
Tracey Thompson, a Toronto resident in her 50s, told CTV News she had begun the process of applying for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), due to extreme fatigue and a lack of financial support.
Tracey used to work long hours as a chef, but has been unable to work for the last 26 months, with no foreseeable end to her forced unemployment.
“(MAiD) is exclusively a financial consideration,” she said.
“My choices are basically to die slowly and painfully, or quickly. Those are the options that are left.”
As well as a lack of financial support, Tracey has experienced long Covid symptoms such as severe fatigue, blurred vision, difficulty digesting food, difficulty breathing, an altered sense of taste and smell, and scars on her heart from swelling due to myocarditis.
While health experts say long Covid is difficult to diagnosis, it is estimated that five percent of those who contract the virus will go on to have long term symptoms.
Tracey also told CTV that she now struggles to get up and look after herself, which is very different to her previous fast paced life in a physically demanding job.
“From being able-bodied and employed to basically bed-bound,” she said.
“I can’t get up on average for 20-plus hours. I have very little capacity to expend the energy physically, mentally and emotionally, so I try to stay home all the time.”
But Thompson stressed she still enjoys life and doesn’t want to die, but doesn’t think she could survive without an income.
“I still enjoy life. Birds chirping, small things that make up a day are still pleasant to me, they’re still enjoyable. I still enjoy my friends. There’s a lot to enjoy in life, even if it’s small,” she said.
“But I don’t relish the idea of suffering for months to come to the same conclusion."
“When support is not coming, things aren’t going to change. It seems irrational to put myself through that just to die in the end.”
While Tracey is unsure if she would be eligible for the Ontario Disability Support Program, she believes the maximum monthly payment would only just cover her rent, leading her to apply for the drastic action of voluntary euthanasia.
In Canada, you do not need to have a terminal illness to be eligible for MAiD, but rather have an illness that “cannot be relieved under conditions that you consider acceptable”.
Thompson said she was confident she would get approval.
“As best I know, I would meet the criteria,” she said.
"I'm very ill. There is no treatment. There is no cure."
Image credits: CTV