Family files euthanasia (MAiD) complaint to the Chief Coroner of Ontario.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Brigitte with her grand daughter.

On July 22, 2026 I contacted Brigitte Stegemann's family and received permission to republish the facebook posting concerning the death of Brigitte.

Kelsi Sheren has confirmed that Brigitte was killed by euthanasia (MAiD) based on questionable competency and consent by Dr Catherine Louise Koester.

There were several issues that should be considered infractions of Canada's euthanasia (MAiD) law.

Sheren reported on August 17 that family has filed a complaint to the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario in the death of their grand-mother.

Sheren outlined the complaint to the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario:

Brigitte — GG’s granddaughter, namesake, twelve-year caregiver, Power of Attorney for personal care — has formally requested an investigation by the MAiD Death Review Team into the death of July 10 at The Pearl in Cannifton, Ontario, licensed to Pearl Care Homes Inc. and formerly E.J. McQuigge Lodge.

These are their reasons, below, along with the original email.

Capacity. Documented cognitive disorientation during the assessment, in which GG could not recall basic facts about her own family. You read what that looked like: the second-youngest of fourteen children telling the assessing physician she had no siblings, then breaking down in confusion, while her family corrected the majority of her answers out loud.

The Power of Attorney, bypassed. Staff initiated private MAiD discussions and completed and witnessed the application paperwork in secret, while the advocate was out of the country for ten days.

No final express consent. The procedure went ahead on the morning of July 10 while GG stayed completely silent and never gave the verbal confirmation the family had been promised, strictly and repeatedly, would be required.

They are asking the Chief Coroner to examine the attending clinician’s compliance, and the conduct of the home’s staff, under the Coroners Act and the Criminal Code.

Kelsi Sheren further explains what the complaint concerns:

Now put the three allegations against that MAID narrative. A capacity finding on a woman who couldn’t name her siblings. Paperwork the home’s manager filled out herself. A death that proceeded through silence.

The death certificate and its stated cause. Both eligibility assessments the law requires, and the identity of whoever performed the second one. The signed request, its date, its witness. The full medication administration record and any waiver of final consent, which remains the whole case: either the procedure went ahead without the express consent the law demands, or a waiver exists that nobody mentioned to the family, including while assuring them of the safeguard it would have cancelled.

This case will determine if Ontario's death system has any oversight. Sheren states:

The granddaughter asked the home for the records. She was refused, repeatedly.

GG told the people offering her death that her faith said no. Nine weeks later she had an appointment. When the last safeguard came she met it with silence, and the family who’d been promised silence would stop it watched it not stop.

Her granddaughter has now done every single thing this system asks of a family that believes something went wrong. Kept the records. Built the timeline. Filed with the coroner. Named the doctor.

What happens next isn’t a test of this family. It’s a test of whether Canadian oversight of assisted death can do anything at all when someone walks in with a timeline, a Power of Attorney, and a name.

Kelsi Sheren contacted Dr Catherine Louise Koester and The Pearl for their response and has received no response. 

If your family has experienced a MAiD death you believe was non-compliant or coerced, in Canada or elsewhere, contact me confidentially at coaching@kelsisheren.com. Anonymity is guaranteed unless you choose otherwise, and nothing you share is published without your consent.

Links to the articles on the death of Brigitte (GG) Stegemann

• The family filed. Here's the name. Dr. Kate Koester (Link).
• The last ten days of Brigitte "GG" Stegemann (Link).
• Our Families Experience with Medical Assistance in Dying (Link).