Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Why Oversight Is Missing in BC’s MAiD Deaths

A new investigation by The BC Catholic has uncovered a disturbing shift in how Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) is governed in British Columbia.

Through a Freedom of Information request, internal government documents were revealed. These show a deliberate effort to keep questionable MAiD deaths out of the hands of law enforcement.

In a November 2023 memo addressed to Stephen Brown, BC’s Deputy Minister of Health, officials warned that:

“Overly strict or severe use of referrals… may discourage physicians or nurse practitioners from providing MAiD despite high demand.”

The memo recommended the creation of a “weighted criteria model” to internally assess infractions and decide which cases, if any, should be reported to police.

Let’s pause here.

In almost every other area of government oversight, such as policing, social work, education, or financial auditing, systems are in place to ensure independent review. However, in BC’s MAiD system, the same individuals responsible for compliance are also helping to steer the program’s expansion.

Sara Bergen serves as both the Director of MAiD for British Columbia and the leader of the MAiD Oversight Unit, which is responsible for overseeing implementation and strategic direction, as well as managing the review of MAiD cases for compliance.

This merging of operational leadership and oversight authority raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability.

Bergen was also a featured speaker at the 2025 Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP) conference. The organization has played a central role in normalizing MAiD as a standard part of healthcare. Its members regularly appear in media, write policy guidance, and provide training to new assessors. CAMAP has strongly supported expanding eligibility criteria, including for those whose sole condition is a mental illness, a change set to take effect in 2027.

So when the Director of Oversight is also being platformed by the movement pushing for expansion, we have a serious conflict of interest.

I have followed this system closely for years and have become an advocate for stronger safeguards in Canada's assisted dying regime because I had no choice.

My personal connection to this issue runs deep, and what I have seen is profoundly disturbing.

My mom died by MAiD in British Columbia in October 2021, just hours after being released from an involuntary psychiatric hold following a suicide attempt.

She had no terminal diagnosis.

The decision felt rushed, opaque, and entirely outside the scope of what the law intended.

We believed something had gone terribly wrong.

As the executor of my mom's estate, I was granted access to her medical records by her general practitioner immediately after her passing, but what shocked us was that her MAiD assessments, which should be included in her medical records, were missing. If MAiD is considered part of someone’s healthcare, we didn’t understand why they were omitted from her healthcare record.

So we requested her MAiD assessment records directly from Fraser Health to see if there was something we had missed. Our only concern was to ensure her death was lawful, and we hoped the assessment records would fill in the missing pieces.

At the same time, my sister and I filed formal complaints with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, believing they would investigate the concerns we raised.

However, when we received responses, Fraser Health claimed our request was not in our mother’s interest, despite my legal role as her executor. The College told us it was a criminal matter. It felt like a coordinated effort to avoid responsibility.

Following the college’s advice, we began poring through the medical records we did have. We studied the Criminal Code to learn the nuances of the law. We had no idea which track she had even been approved under.

What we found, or rather, what we did not find, confirmed our worst fear:

Her death, as best as we could understand, did not meet the legal requirements.

With our binder of evidence in hand, including printouts, timelines, diagnoses, and notes from her doctors, we presented it to the police. They reviewed the records, and finally, we got an answer we desperately needed: The major crimes unit was opening an investigation.

It was the first time in Canadian history that a MAiD death was being formally reviewed by law enforcement.

For a moment, we had hope.

But after months of investigation, the case was forced to close. Fraser Health refused to release the MAiD assessment records, even to the police. We were stunned. The police told us that if we found additional evidence, the case could be reopened.

We hired one of the top law firms in Canada and submitted legal requests to Fraser Health, as well as the MAiD Oversight Unit, to access the records. Again, we were denied.

Next, we filed a formal complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC (OIPC). We waited a year and a half for an inquiry. When our concerns were finally accepted into the formal process, we spent another three months engaging in legal submissions.

Ultimately, they upheld the decision to withhold the records. The only person who could request the records was my mom, and she was dead.

It felt like a cover-up. As if we were being punished for going public, especially since other families, who had heard our story in the meantime, had reached out to tell us that other health authorities had provided assessment records at their request.

And this is what makes the new FOI findings so disturbing. After everything we experienced, to now see written proof that officials are actively working to keep questionable deaths from being investigated?

It feels like a gut punch, and I cannot help but take this personally.

Because it is personal. My mom’s death should have been a red flag, a case study, a moment for pause. Instead, it became a closed file. Not because the evidence wasn’t there, but because the system is designed to avoid scrutiny.

This is not what oversight looks like.

And when the outcome is death, silence should never be an option.