Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo (Image Credit: CPAC / File Photo)

By James Peters

Veterans Affairs

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KAMLOOPS — The MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo is calling the report of a brain-injured veteran being offered medical assistance in dying (MAID) unprompted by a Veterans Affairs Canada employee “reprehensible.”

Global News is reporting the veteran, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and the effects of a traumatic brain injury, was casually offered MAID despite the veteran never raising the subject. Global reports the offer deeply disturbed the veteran.

Frank Caputo is the official opposition’s critic for Veterans Affairs.

“To me, this is reprehensible. It’s wrong.” Caputo told CFJC Today. “It needs to be corrected and addressed.”

The first-term MP says he will reach out to leaders among Canadian veterans to determine if spontaneous offers of MAID have been made to others.

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“The veterans’ community is a very tight-knit one and, while not all stories may make it to the forefront, there may be other situations that we’re not aware of, so I do intend to follow up on that. More concretely, I encourage the minister to follow up on that,” said Caputo.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay has issued a statement to Global News, saying he has asked Deputy Minister Paul Ledwell to “ensure this never happens again.”

For Caputo, the statement lacked the necessary steps.

“The [statement] that Minister MacAulay put out doesn’t say that they will investigate the matter — that they will get to the bottom of how did this happen,” said Caputo. “Have other veterans been offered medical assistance in dying? Was it actually facilitated? Is there somebody that was offered it that may be in the process of pursuing it? These are unanswered questions that the minister and this government need to answer.”