Inside the 'death party' of woman, 45, on Canada's assisted suicide program - ... trends now
Rod Stewart’s ‘Forever Young’ played in the background as a dozen people gathered under twinkling lights and drank champagne and tequila.
The family and friends were gathered around the host, Dr Yolanda Martins, who was throwing her own goodbye party. But the 45-year-old wasn’t taking a trip or moving.
On that day in July 2018, she was going to die.
Dr Martins sat in the corner of the room in a plush velvet chair, with her guests weeping, reaching out to touch whichever body part they could.
A cocktail of drugs were then delivered via IV, which would slip Dr Martins into a coma, stop her heart and end her life.
Just before the first medication traveled through her veins, she said: 'I couldn't have asked for a better send-off.'
Eight months prior, Dr Martins had applied for Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) - a policy that allows anyone with an incurable medical condition to die by assisted suicide.
Dr Yolanda Martins applied for Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) because she was in constant pain from her rare condition - lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)
After her diagnosis, the once-adventurous woman felt 'tethered to Earth' and could no longer partake in any of her favorite hobbies
For three decades, Dr Martins had been suffering from a rare and incurable condition, called LAM, that causes cysts to grow in the lungs and obstructs breathing.
After being approved for MAiD and organizing logistics to donate her body to science, she threw her 'death party.'
For years Dr Martins was unable to lead a normal life - she slept for 19 hours a day, couldn't work and had to move into her parents' house.
The academic and researcher who used to jump out of planes and swim with sharks could now barely leave the house and was exhausted - both physically and mentally - from battling her disease.
She had been living with the incurable disease for three decades and decided she would rather end her life painlessly than continue to have her health deteriorate and be in constant agony.
Dr Martins' MAiD case was among several detailed in the book 'The Last Doctor' by Dr Jean Marmoreo and Johanna Schneller.
Dr Martins' MAiD case was detailed in the book 'The Last Doctor: Lessons in Living from the Front Lines of Medical Assistance in Dying' by Dr Jean Marmoreo and Johanna Schneller.
The patient arrived at her death party at a friend’s house dressed in a blue kimono, leggings and velvet slippers.
Not far behind her was a tank hooked up to tubing that supplied life-sustaining oxygen to Dr Martins, who struggled to breathe.
The hearse and funeral home attendants waited outside for her to die so they could take her body to the hospital to retrieve her organs.
When it was time to begin, Dr Martins settled in a velvet chair in the corner of her friend’s living room.
As part of the process, there were a few last formalities to check off a list: 'I’m now going to ask for your consent,” Dr Marmoreo said.
‘You’ve been diagnosed with a rare lung disease. It’s in an advanced stage. You’ve been told your alternatives. None are acceptable to you. You are suffering as a result of your condition. 'You are requesting assistance to die,’ the family physician rattled off.
She listed out the five drugs to be used to end her patient's life.
Then she asked: 'You know this will result in your death. I will then call the coroner. Do you want me to proceed?'
Dr Martins gave her consent for a final time and left her guests with 'her last quote:' 'I'm surrounded by love and peace and I've never felt more sure of my decision.'
The process began at 10:40am as people crowded around her, crying and reaching out to hold on to whatever part of Dr Martins’ body they could reach.
In San Diego, Betsy Davis (center) was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. The 41-year-old threw a two-day party to say goodbye to friends and family before she would take a deadly dose of drugs and end her life in 2016
More than 30 people attended the event. People played instruments, sipped on cocktails, ate pizza and watched one of Ms Davis' favorite movies
Ms Davis was then wheeled to a bed on a hillside where she took a handful of medications prescribed by her doctor that ended her life
By 11:23 am, she was declared dead.
LAM is a painful disease that almost exclusively impacts women - affecting about three to eight of every 1million, primarily of child-bearing age.
In Dr Martins' case, she had hundreds of cysts growing in her lungs, taking up air space and leaving her struggling to breath.
LAM is often misdiagnosed in early stages as asthma or pulmonary disease and there is no known cause.
A lung transplant and supplemental oxygen can help alleviate symptoms, but there is no cure and the life expectancy is only two years after diagnosis.
Like thousands of others unwilling to live any longer with a deadly condition, Dr Martins was one of the more than 21,000 Canadians who have opted to die via MAiD since its passage in 2016.
Euthanasia, assisted dying or physician-assisted suicide is legal in many countries, including parts of the US (it is still illegal in the UK) and as more people exercise their right to die on their own terms, similar death or euthanasia parties, life celebrations and living funerals have become more common.
In San Diego, Betsy Davis was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. The 41-year-old threw a two-day party to say goodbye to friends and family before she would become one of the first patients in California to take a deadly dose of drugs and end her life in 2016.
More than 30 people attended the event. People played instruments, sipped on cocktails, ate pizza and watched one of Ms Davis' favorite movies.
At the end of the weekend,
