A 90-year-old Canadian woman opted for assisted suicide when faced with another mandatory lockdown in her Toronto retirement home.
According to CTV News, Nancy Russell, a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, opted for medically assisted death in October.
Her friends and family, according to the outlet, congregated in Russell’s room on the day of her death, where they’d gathered and sang a song she had chosen to send her on her way.
Residents at Russell’s retirement home often ate meals alone in their rooms during mandatory lockdowns, were faced with activities cancellations, and were unable to see family for days or weeks on end.
“These measures,” the outlet reported, “aimed at saving lives, can sometimes be detrimental enough to the overall health of residents that they find themselves looking into other options.”
Other options, in this case, are defined as medically assisted suicide. Russell’s family told the outlet that their loved one chose a “MAID” — or “medically assisted death” — after she “declined so sharply during lockdown that she didn’t want to go through more isolation this winter.”