A 20 year-old man held a goodbye barbecue party after agreeing to end his life by assisted suicide due to his deteriorating health condition.
Eric Coulan, from Fort St John in British Columbia, Canada held the farewell party last month and will now die on his own terms after a blockage in his intestines doctors couldn’t diagnose ruptured in 2020 and gave him sepsis.
Compared to 2020, Couland is now a pale shadow of the bright young mechanic he once was.
Coulan spent much of his childhood taking medication for abdominal pain which caused him severe discomfort.
But despite trying seven different hospitals across Canada, doctors were unable to diagnose him, beyond saying he had suffered a blockage.
The issue reached the climax years ago when Coulan became so sick that he had emergency surgery to remove part of his lower intestine.
During the surgery the surgeons couldn’t locate a blockade in the intestine which ruptured causing sepsis and since then his life has only depreciated.
He even carries a colostomy bag around with him and will now use Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law to end his life painlessly by taking drugs administered by a doctor or nurse.
Speaking to CJDC: ‘There’ll be an end to suffering. I suffer all day long. I’ve been in a four walled room for a very long time and I’ve just had enough.’
He recalled: ‘I went in to emergency and got a bed right away and that night (it) ruptured and (I) got put in a coma for I can’t remember how long.’
After coming around, Coulan was told the only hope of a possible recovery was to have six organ transplants – which medics claimed had never been attempted before.
Even then, doctors warned there was only a 50 per cent chance of recovery, Coulan said. They have not been able to give him a prognosis for how long he might survive in his current condition, but Coulan said life is too painful to endure.
He held a farewell barbecue on May 22, but has yet to decide when he’ll kill himself
Coulan explained: ‘I will go when I am ready. It is not when I am sick. It is not when they pull my medications. It is when I am ready.’
Canada’s Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) law was enacted in 2016 to offer adults suffering severe illness help to die painlessly.
Participants must be over 18 and live in Canada. They must be suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition which is severe and cannot be reversed.
Patients must give informed consent of their decision, and it must be independently witnessed.