A Loyalist Township woman is raising concerns following the medically assisted death of her grandmother at a Belleville retirement home.
Brigitte Kranendonk says her 83-year-old grandmother Brigitte Stegemann was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer in February (2026).
She was her grandmothers power of attorney and she tells Quinte News her Oma initially rejected MAID, but was later assessed and approved for the procedure while family was away.
Relatives present during the procedure claim she was non-responsive and failed to give final verbal consent before doctors administered the lethal injections.
“Everyone gets to make their own decision. It’s no different than anything else in the world. We all have free will, but when a family is saying, ‘We are concerned that she is a vulnerable senior,’ and it’s not like I just flew in at the very last minute to try and care for my Oma. I had been there for the last 13 years advocating, doctors’ appointments, medical reviews, everything for her.”
Kranendonk feels proper procedure was not followed.
“I don’t know if she passed out. I don’t know if she was just so deep in prayer that she didn’t even acknowledge what was going on. I have no idea. But she did not give consent on the Friday when the doctor performed MAID.
It was a ‘Hi Brigitte, we’re here. We’re going to get going with this. Is this something that you still want to do?’ My Oma doesn’t respond, and then they proceed.”
“There has to be certain documentation, I found out after, has to be done before the second assessment and before the booking of MAID can take place. That documentation was not done.”
We asked Kranendonk is she felt her Oma had a change of heart and wished for MAID.
“I think it was a combination of, with my Oma, feeling scared of pain. I think that she felt like she was a burden. I also think that there was the combination of the, the religious aspect of it”
She says when they spoke to her, everyone was on the same page when it came to made. Kranendonk says she feels those in the home were not.
“We were, as a family, were treated quite poorly from some of the people at the home because of their own beliefs.”
Kranendonk says an investigation is continuing.
Our interview can be heard below.
