Children’s author Robert Munsch says he will die by physician-assisted suicide after dementia diagnosis

Robert Munsch, the prolific children’s author behind books such as The Paper Bag Princess and Love You Forever, has said he will end his life through physician-assisted suicide after being granted Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada following a 2021 dementia diagnosis.

Munsch, 80, who has also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, told The New York Times that he applied for and was granted MAID shortly after the dementia diagnosis. He said he intends to choose a time to die when he can still provide consent, and that he will act “when I start having real trouble talking and communicating. Then I’ll know.” He added, in a description of the application process, jokingly, “Hello Doc — come kill me!” and asked rhetorically, “How much time do I have? Fifteen seconds!” He said watching a brother die of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) influenced his decision: “They kept him live through all these interventions. I thought: Let him die.”

Under Canadian MAID law, patients must provide consent at the time of the procedure, meaning people who choose an assisted death must be able to confirm their request at the moment care is provided. Munsch said that requirement means he must identify a point at which he can still ask for MAID; if he misses that window, he told his wife Ann, “you’re stuck with me being a lump.”

Munsch moved to Canada from Pittsburgh in 1975 and became known for touring schools and performing his stories for children. He published his first book, Mud Puddle, soon after arriving, and went on to publish 85 books. The Paper Bag Princess sold more than 7.5 million copies. His book Love You Forever, inspired by the couple’s experience with stillbirths and their subsequent adoptions, has outsold other children’s classics, and he has been recognized with honours including the Order of Canada in 1999 and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2009.

Munsch’s health troubles have been public and protracted. He suffered a stroke in 2008 that temporarily erased his recall of story plots and led him to withdraw from public life until speech therapy helped him recover his storytelling skills. He announced a dementia diagnosis in 2021 and later revealed he also has Parkinson’s disease. Despite those challenges, he produced new work recently: a 2023 book titled Bounce and a revised version of The Perfect Paper Airplane that his publisher said was scheduled for release this fall.

Munsch has also spoken openly about struggles with mental health and substance use. He has described bouts of heavy drinking and later cocaine use, participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, and treatment with antidepressant and mood-stabilizing medications.

Scholastic Canada, which publishes many of Munsch’s books, released a statement saying his stories will live on and quoting the refrain from Love You Forever: “We love you forever.” The publisher called itself “proud” to have published his work and said it was grateful for the stories he shared, “including his own.”

Canada’s path to legalizing assisted dying began after a 2015 Supreme Court decision that found criminal prohibitions on assisted suicide violated people’s rights to dignity and autonomy. Parliament passed federal legislation in 2016 allowing euthanasia and assisted suicide for adults who meet certain medical criteria; the law was later amended to expand eligibility to people who are not terminally ill. That expansion, which removed the requirement that death be reasonably foreseeable, significantly broadened access and has drawn criticism from some physicians and advocacy groups.

Assisted dying now accounts for about one in 20 deaths in Canada, according to recent figures. Doctors and ethicists have expressed discomfort with some elements of the system, including cases in which patients’ requests appear driven by social or economic factors rather than a strictly medical prognosis. A 2024 report by Ontario’s chief coroner found instances in which social needs played a role in patients’ access to MAID. An Associated Press investigation also reported that some health professionals privately struggled with requests from vulnerable people whose suffering might have been alleviated by housing, financial support or social services.

Some clinicians who provide MAID have described the work in terms that reflect their own professional transitions. Vancouver physician Stefanie Green, a former maternity doctor, has said she thinks of MAID cases as “deliveries.” Another Vancouver doctor, Ellen Wiebe, who once provided abortions, has been reported to have performed hundreds of assisted deaths.

Critics of the law have cautioned that expanding eligibility removes safeguards intended to protect patients who may have many years of life ahead and that it could leave vulnerable people at risk if broader social supports are inadequate. Proponents argue that the law protects autonomy for people who are suffering from intolerable conditions.

Munsch’s announcement comes as Canada continues to debate the scope and safeguards of MAID. Parliament has recommended further changes in some areas, including access for younger people, and officials have set timelines to consider whether mental illness should be treated as a standalone ground for MAID.

Munsch’s career and influence on children’s literature are long-standing: his stories, often drawn from interactions with children during school visits, have been widely read in Canadian classrooms and abroad for decades. As he prepares to end his life through a legally sanctioned procedure, his publishers and many readers have focused public attention on both his body of work and the broader ethical and regulatory questions that the law raises for Canada’s health system.