From Fox News: The grieving parents of a 26-year-old man are speaking out against Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) laws, arguing the system failed to protect their “vulnerable” son from being euthanized, despite a history of mental illness.
Kiano Vafaeian was euthanized on Dec. 30, 2025, in British Columbia. His family says he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 4 and began struggling with mental health after a car accident at 17.
His mother, Margaret Marsilla of Ontario, said his depression was often seasonal, yet he became “obsessed” with MAID after losing vision in one eye in 2022.
“He kept on emphasizing about how he could get approved,” Marsilla told Fox News Digital. “We never thought there would be a chance that any doctor would approve a 22- or 23-year-old at that time for MAID because of diabetes or blindness.”
MAID was legalized in Canada in June 2016. The law allows patients with “grievous and irremediable” medical conditions to request a lethal drug that is either physician or self-administered, to end their lives.
A Toronto doctor initially approved Vafaeian’s request for assisted suicide in 2022, but after the family launched a massive campaign on social media to oppose the decision, the doctor withdrew the approval.
The family said their son began to show signs of improvement, and moved back home with them in 2024. However, as winter approached, he began spiraling downward and talking about MAID again.
Several doctors in Ontario rejected his new request, but Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a prominent MAID provider in British Columbia, finally approved it.
The story turns even more sickening, as Vafaeian’s parents say they were not notified of the approval and only learned of their son’s death days after it occurred.
Margaret Marsilla, Kiano’s mother, posted the following heartbreaking announcement on Facebook on January 6:
With a broken heart, I am sharing that my baby boy Kiano passed away on December 30, 2025, after being euthanized.
Four years ago, here in Ontario, we were able to stop his euthanasia and get him some help. He was alive because people stepped in when he was vulnerable and not capable of making a final, irreversible decision.
Tragically, the Canadian system later allowed something very different to happen in Vancouver—where a doctor named DR ELLEN WIEBE AKA DR DEATH #2 approved his death based on mental illness. This approval occurred despite euthanasia for mental illness being banned until 2027. Somehow, DR DEATH #2 found a loophole in the system, one that now demands to be exposed so that no other parent has to endure this.
This is disgusting on every level. And I promise I will fight this tooth and nail for my son and other parents who too have children that suffer from mental illness.
As a mother and after watching and reading countless stories from other families, I can say this experience was not only devastating, but deeply disturbing. The actions of DR ELLEN WIEBE reveal a pattern of coldness and disregard for vulnerable human life that I can no longer stay silent about, just that scary smile shows her entitlement for taking peoples lives…..No compassion.
No protection.
No effort to save a life, only to end it.This is not healthcare. This is a failure of ethics, accountability, and humanity.
No parent should ever have to bury their child because a system—and a doctor—chose death over care, help, or love.In time, I intend to pursue accountability against DR ELLEN WIEBE and to stand alongside other families and associations who have been harmed by these same decisions. I know we are not alone.
Right now, we are making arrangements for my son’s funeral this Saturday Jan 10. Details will be shared once finalized.
Thank you to everyone who has supported our family, prayed for us, and stood by us through all these years of pain and hope. Please keep our family in your prayers during this unbearable time 😭😭💔💔
Margaret & Joe
Fox News explained:
In 2021, eligibility for MAID was expanded to include applicants with “grievous and irremediable conditions” whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable. The family is now advocating for the repeal of this “Track 2” provision and the passage of Bill C-218, a legislative effort to restrict MAID for patients whose underlying issue is solely mental illness.
Marsilla posted the following video message on Facebook last week, promoting Bill C-218.
READ MORE from Fox News.
SYSTEM FAILURE: Margaret Marsilla says doctors helped their son Kiano, who suffered from diabetes and blindness, to meet criteria for MAID in Canada despite history of mental illness. https://t.co/eKXxAQe3UR
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 17, 2026
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