Grieving Parents Call for Reform of Controversial Law Following 26-Year-Old Son’s Euthanasia

The euthanasia of a young Canadian man has raised questions about assisted death laws in Canada. In December 2025, 26-year-old Kiano Vafaeian underwent euthanasia at his request in British Columbia.

Vafaeian did not have a terminal illness, but lived with type 1 diabetes, partial blindness, and depression for a long time. His death came as a shock to his parents, who believed their son was improving.

Vafaeian’s parents have revealed that he was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 4, which later caused blindness in one eye. His health issues affected his mental health, which the parents believe led him to seek euthanasia.

Canada’s Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) law enacted in 2016 allow people with grievous and irremediable medical conditions to seek euthanasia. In 2021, Track 2 provisions expanded eligibility to patients with chronic illnesses and intolerable suffering. Mental illness alone is currently excluded, but is scheduled to be considered under the law in March 2027.

Vafaeian initially contacted doctors in 2022 seeking euthanasia when he was 23. A Toronto practitioner approved his request, but later withdrew approval after objection from his parents.

According to Vafaeian’s mother, Margaret Marsilla, he began improving after the request was declined. He moved in with his parents, started working out and expressed hope about the future. With his parents’ support, he showed improvement during the spring and summer of 2025. However, his condition worsened again in the fall.

Recalling that period, Marsilla said in an interview with Fox News Digital, “He tried his best when he was in one of those good highs of life. Then winter, fall started coming around, he started changing, and then everything that we had worked for from spring and summertime just disappeared… he would start talking about MAID again.”

Marsilla said multiple doctors in Ontario rejected Vafaeian’s request. He later consulted Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a MAID provider in British Columbia, who approved euthanasia.

Marsilla accused Dr. Wiebe of coaching her son on how to use MAID’s Track 2 provisions to qualify for assisted death. Vafaeian died on December 30, 2025. He informed his parents of his decision by text a day earlier.

Days later, the family received a death certificate listing blindness, severe peripheral neuropathy, and diabetes as contributing conditions. Marsilla said her son’s medical records did not mention of peripheral neuropathy. Following his death, she posted on Instagram, accusing Dr. Wiebe of responsibility for the loss of a "vulnerable" life.

In defense, the doctor released a statement to People Magazine, “As with all my colleagues, I carefully assess each patient, and each individual for whom I provided MAID had a grievous and irremediable medical (not psychiatric) condition causing unbearable suffering and causing an advanced state of decline in capability.”

Vafaeian’s parents are grieving and want the government to repeal Track 2 provisions. His father said, “We don't want to see any other family member suffer, or any country introduce a piece of legislation that kills their disabled or vulnerable without appropriate proper treatment plans that could save their lives.”