Sophia (born 1970 or 1971) is the pseudonym of a 51-year old Canadian woman who sought and received euthanasia in 2022 after failing to find alternative housing free from tobacco smoke and other environmental triggers. She is reported to be the first person in the world who used medical assistance in dying (MAID) in response to multiple chemical sensitivity, a controversial unrecognized disease.

Sophia

Sophia was a 51-year old Canadian woman who had multiple chemical sensitivities, a disease that is unrecognized by the World Health Organization. Sufferer's report varying symptoms in response to a variety of different chemicals, commonly perfurmes or scents used in detergent. She lived at the Salvation Army's Grace Communities residential apartments in Toronto and obtained care from Women's College Hospital in Toronto.[1][2][3] With support from friends, Sophia spent two years trying to find affordable housing that did not expose her to cigarette smoke and the scent of chemical cleaners.[1] Her search was not successful, despite her appeals to the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and her municipal government.[1] Sophia reportedly spent increased amount of time at home due to the public health measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] No government agency in Canada has the responsibility to help people with environmental sensitivities find alternative housing as the syndrome is not a recognized medical condition by the world health organization. [4]

Sophia reportedly avoided media attention prior to her death, concerned that it would thwart her ability to take her own life.[1] On February 14, Sophia recorded a video, later shared to CTV News in which she said: "The government sees me as expendable trash, a complainer, useless and a pain in the ass".[1][5] To protect the privacy of her family, she asked her friends to share the video but to use the pseudonym of Sophia.[1]

Death and aftermath

Sophia died on February 22, 2022, making use of new legal rights to obtain medical assistance in dying that existed in Canada since March 17, 2021.[1]

Rohini Peris, President of the Environmental Health Association of Québec said, after her death: "This person begged for help for years, two years, wrote everywhere, called everywhere, asking for healthy housing."[1]

University of Toronto PhD candidate Sophia Jaworski wrote in the American Ethnologist journal that "it is easier to access physician-assisted suicide than it is to secure accessible housing."[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Woman with chemical sensitivities chose medically-assisted death after failed bid to get better housing". CTVNews. 2022-04-13. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  2. ↑ "NP View: The truly awful cost of Canada's permissive doctor-assisted death program". nationalpost. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  3. 1 2 Jaworski, Sophia (2022-05-18). "Accessible Atmospheres and Medically Assisted Death: Dignity, Oppression, and the Eugenic Impulse in Canada Sophia Jaworski - American Ethnological Society". Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  4. ↑ "Woman forced to leave home because of chemical sensitivity disorder". CTVNews. 2016-11-01. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  5. ↑ Picard, André (2022-06-06). "Opinion: We must make it easier to both live and die with dignity, but denying MAiD to those living in poverty is not the answer". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
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