Who is Lisa Pauli? 47-year-old anorexic Canadian woman's tragic story goes viral

Canadian woman Lisa Pauli has been suffering from anorexia, a debilitating eating disorder, for decades now. The condition is characterized by self-starvation due to an irrational fear of gaining weight. In recent times, she has been hospitalized twice and tried multiple treatments to battle her condition. But so far, nothing has worked. As a result, Lisa Pauli thinks that she is ready to die.

Currently, she is not eligible for euthanasia (the practice of deliberately but painlessly putting an end to human life for humane reasons, especially in order to end great suffering or poor quality of life) under Canadian law. However, Reuters reported but she soon might be allowed to die under medical assistance.

A netizen empathizes with Lisa. (Image via Twitter/ESPWWX)

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Lisa Pauli has considered assisted death since April 2021

According to Reuters, Toronto native Lisa Pauli spent days without eating solid food, struggled to get out of bed, and wasn’t strong enough to stand on her own two feet and do basic chores such as carrying her groceries back home without stopping to rest. Unable to deal with her anorexia any longer, she told the news outlet:

“Every day is hell. I’m so tired. I’m done. I’ve tried everything. I feel like I’ve lived my life.”

A netizen shows her solidarity for Lisa. (Image via Twitter/Ardavon)

Now weighing 92 pounds, the 47-year-old has suffered from anorexia since she was eight. So, after struggling for years with her debilitating eating disorder, she is now finally ready to die. But Canadian law is not allowing her to do so yet. Canada legalized assisted death for terminally ill patients in 2016, but, in 2021, they changed it to people suffering from incurable diseases. This still doesn’t make Lisa Pauli eligible.

However, the law is set to expand in March 2024, allowing people with underlying mental illnesses to opt for medically assisted death. This is when Lisa Pauli can choose to die. However, she has been considering assisted death since April 2021 and first introduced the idea to her psychiatrist Justine Dembo.

A netizen shares her own experience of anorexia. (Image via Twitter/Lorraine Cestone)

Dembo, who is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto also told Reuters how her patient Lisa Pauli should be eligible for euthanasia as soon as Canadian law changes as she has “undergone very high-quality treatments and they just have not made an impact.”

As for Lisa Pauli, she is ready to apply for medically assisted death as soon as it is legalized for people like her in March next year. Initially, when she proposed the idea to her mother Mary Heatley, she could not accept it. She told USA News:

“The wind knocked out of me. I just couldn’t imagine her not being in this world.”

A netizen feels for Lisa's anorexic condition. (Image via Twitter/Ted Banker)

But as soon as she had a heart-to-heart conversation with her daughter, she realized what Lisa was going through.

“She just could not foresee another 10,20, whatever years of this, living with this eating disorder,” she added.

She further continued by saying how she now tried and remembers this is what her daughter wants and it is her life.

For those unaware, assisted dying is legal in many other nations such as New Zealand, Switzerland, and Australia. In the USA too, doctor-assisted suicide is legal in ten states including New Jersey, Vermont, New Mexico, and California as per Death and Dignity, an end-of-life advocacy organization.

So far, over 30,000 people have died in Canada from euthanasia, including 10,000 since 2021, which accounts for 3.3 percent of deaths in the country. As per Health Canada, 98 percent of the medically assisted deaths since 2021 were deemed near their natural deaths.