This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-TALK (8255).
The granddaughter of an 83-year-old woman who died through the countrys assisted-death program in July says her grandmother had no idea she was about to die until she was told she would be given a lethal injection just days prior.
Brigitte Kranendonk, who cared for her grandmother Brigitte Stegemann, says the family cut short a vacation after learning that the had scheduled a second MAiD assessment, despite Stegemann previously declining the procedure.
“Just before we had come back from our vacation, I received a phone call from the home stating that they had booked a second assessment for with my grandmother, and at this point my Oma had already denied MAiD,” Kranendonk told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “When we went to the home after our vacation â we did cut it short, we came home, we saw her. She had no idea what was happening.”
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Kranendonk said that she was her grandmothers primary caregiver and that her family had decided to place Stegemann at The Pearl care home in Cannifton due to physical and mental decline.
Her grandmother, however, still had a good appetite and was in good spirits even following a stomach cancer diagnosis, and rejected the idea of using MAiD when it was presented as an option.
“She had an opportunity to get an IV port, meaning for injectable medicine. They didn’t have to re-poke her every time,” Kranendonk said. “It was kind of a one-and-done deal. She had ripped it out several times because she kept saying, I don’t want the death shot.”
“And it wasn’t until I, face to face, explained it to her that this is not what it is, this is just pain management,” Kranendonk added. “That was the scary part is that it felt like she went from screaming, ‘I don’t want the death shot,’ to then accepting MAiD. But only while I was on vacation.”
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Stegemann was killed under Canadas physician-assisted suicide program, called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), on July 10.
Kranendonk says her grandmothers first language was not English and that she was severely hearing impaired.
“My grandmother’s first language is not English,” Kranendonk said. “She is severely hearing impaired. And she, her whole life, was terrified of feeling dumb. She never wanted to look as if she didn’t understand what was going on. And so when the doctor came in and was explaining MAiD and using very loose terms, like, We’re just going to give you medicine, you’re not going to feel pain. And don’t worry, you won’t have a bowel movement, my grandma’s just sitting there nodding. And I stopped, and I said to her, She doesn’t understand what you’re saying.”
When Kranendonk directly asked Stegemann whether she knew she would die that Friday, she said her grandmother was visibly shocked and cried for roughly 45 minutes, repeatedly saying, “I made a mistake.”
