‘At His Own Wake, Celebrating Life and the Gift of Death’ by Catherine Porter

In this New York Times article running over 7,000 words, Catherine Porter tells the story of the assisted death of John Shields. The article opens with John’s idea to throw himself an Irish wake before his assisted death, to be held in the solarium of the hospice where he is receiving palliative care for amyloidosis. Porter tells John’s life story, including how he left the Catholic Church, where he was an ordained priest, and became a social worker, activist, environmentalist, and president of the British Columbia Government Employees’ Union. Porter outlines the history of medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada and introduces readers to Dr. Stefanie Green, who will provide John with MAID. The article is interactive and features audio clips of John, his wife Robin June Hood, and Green. A 3-minute-long video embedded in the article documents John’s ‘Farewell Party’ on the night before his death, showing some two dozen friends and family giving thanks and saying their goodbyes as John smiles on and enjoys a last supper. The next day, Porter follows Green as she prepares for the procedure. The article takes readers through the end-of-life ceremony that John planned, which mixes cultural traditions and includes a Broadway tune and the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Porter describes the procedure and John’s death, which is attended by a small group of his family and friends, and John’s final rites, which his family hold at their home, in his beloved garden.

When she wrote this article, Porter was the New York Times Canada bureau chief, writing about Canadian stories for an American audience. A print version of the article was the cover story of the New York Times on Sunday, May 28, 2017. In the comments section of the online version of the story, over 800 comments run the gamut from praise to contempt for both Porter and Green. Many readers thank Porter for giving them access to John’s death and express a desire to die in the same way. Others condemn her for writing an intimate story that they feel exploits a dying man and his family. Similarly, while some readers praise Green for providing John a peaceful death, other express disgust that MAID is available, and that any physician would participate in ending a patient’s life. In a follow-up article published in December 2017, Porter writes that she was drawn to MAID as a subject when she heard about the Rob Gray’s living wake before his assisted death. The idea of a living wake made her wonder if the change in Canadian law allowing MAID had also changed rituals around dying. For her piece, she was drawn to Victoria, British Columbia, because MAID providers were ‘uncharacteristically open’ about their practice on Vancouver Island. She asked several MAID providers if they had patients that they thought would be willing to be profiled. One of the providers she contacted was Green, who writes in her memoir that she immediately thought of John when Porter approached her because of his remarkable life story and his open, public communication about death. After he agreed, Green put Porter in touch with John. Porter wrote of the experience of witnessing John’s death that, ‘I’ve thought about Mr. Shields’s death continually since then. I hope everyone I love dies with such peace.’