Children’s author Robert Munsch will use medical assistance in dying after dementia diagnosis
The Canadian author, diagnosed with dementia in 2021, has been approved for MAID and says he will choose the timing while he still has capacity to consent.
Robert Munsch, the Canadian author of children’s classics including The Paper Bag Princess and Love You Forever, has said he will end his life through medical assistance in dying after being diagnosed with dementia.
Munsch, 80, told the New York Times that he has received approval for “medical assistance in dying,” known as MAID in Canada, and that he intends to select a time to end his life before he loses the capacity to consent. He made the decision after watching a brother endure an agonizing death from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and told the newspaper he did not want to experience a similar decline.
In interviews Munsch mixed dark humor with practical concerns about autonomy. “Hello, Doc — come kill me!” he told the Times, then added, “How much time do I have? Fifteen seconds!” He said he plans to schedule the procedure when he still can communicate and give informed consent, telling his wife that he does not want to be “a lump” if he can no longer authorize the decision himself.
MAID has been legal in Canada since 2016 and allows eligible adults to receive medical assistance to end their lives under specific conditions, including the requirement that patients have capacity to consent at the time of the procedure. Munsch said he has not set a date and emphasized that the timing must occur while he can still ask for it.
Munsch, who was born in Pittsburgh and later became a Canadian citizen, was diagnosed with dementia in 2021. He was one of nine children and spent seven years studying to be a Jesuit priest before deciding the priesthood was not for him. He later worked with children and became a prolific storyteller, writing more than 70 books inspired by the children he met in his work.
His best-known titles include The Paper Bag Princess, Mortimer and Love You Forever, which together helped make him one of Canada’s most widely read children’s authors beginning in the 1980s. Munsch has publicly discussed past struggles with manic depressive disorder and addiction. He has described himself as a storyteller whose characters often grew out of real encounters with young people.
His decision adds to public conversations in Canada and elsewhere about assisted dying and the choices some people with progressive, life-limiting conditions make to control the manner and timing of their deaths. In describing his brother’s prolonged decline from ALS, Munsch said others sought every possible intervention to extend life, but he concluded that he did not want the same course for himself.
Medical assistance in dying in Canada is governed by federal law and clinical safeguards intended to ensure that patients make voluntary, informed choices and meet eligibility criteria. Jurisdictions and clinicians have navigated complex questions about capacity, consent and the point at which progressive cognitive impairment affects eligibility. Government and medical bodies periodically review the law and its application.
Munsch’s announcement drew attention because of his public stature and his characteristic directness in speaking about a fraught personal decision. He has said previously that his storytelling arose from listening to children and reflecting their experiences in simple, often wry narratives. That approach to his work — candid, plainspoken and aimed at young readers — was reflected in the manner he discussed his own plans.
Munsch’s family, publishers and representatives did not immediately release a statement offering further details about timing or arrangements. He told the Times he planned to act before losing the ability to communicate his wishes, and that decision will determine when the procedure takes place.
As more people in Canada and other countries live with conditions such as dementia and ALS, questions about assisted dying, capacity and palliative care continue to be debated among clinicians, ethicists, lawmakers and the public. Munsch’s disclosure underscores the personal considerations individuals and families face when confronting progressive neurological disease and the options available under existing medical and legal frameworks.
