Robert Munsch, the bestselling children’s author behind The Paper Bag Princess and Love You Forever, said he will die by physician‑assisted suicide after being diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
Munsch, 80, told The New York Times he applied for and was granted Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada shortly after his 2021 diagnosis. He said he intends to choose the moment when he can still request the procedure, adding that he will move forward when "I start having real trouble talking and communicating. Then I'll know." He joked about the application process, saying it consisted of: "Hello Doc—come kill me!" and "How much time do I have? Fifteen seconds!".
Munsch, who was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Canada in 1975, has published 85 books and became a fixture in Canadian schools as he toured classrooms performing his stories. His 1980s hit The Paper Bag Princess sold millions of copies; Love You Forever, inspired by the couple’s two stillborn children and later adopted family, has outsold such bedtime classics as Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, his publishers say. Scholastic Canada released a statement after the announcement saying, "His stories will live on for generations. 'We love you forever.' "
The author described watching a brother die of Lou Gehrig’s disease as influential in his decision. "They kept him live through all these interventions," he said. "I thought: Let him die." Under current Canadian law, however, a patient must be able to give consent at the time of death, meaning Munsch said he would have to pick the moment while he can still ask for the procedure; otherwise, he told his wife Ann, "you're stuck with me being a lump."
Munsch’s health problems date back years. He suffered a stroke in 2008 that temporarily robbed him of the plots he had created and led him to withdraw from public life until speech therapy helped him recover his storytelling. He announced a dementia diagnosis in 2021 and said at the time he could no longer drive, ride a bicycle or write. Even after the diagnosis, he published a picture book in 2023 called Bounce and has a revised title, The Perfect Paper Airplane, scheduled for publication this fall.
His life and career have also included well‑documented struggles with mental health and substance use. Munsch has spoken publicly about lifelong depression, undiagnosed bipolar disorder and obsessive‑compulsive disorder, and about periods of heavy drinking and cocaine use. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous in the mid‑1980s and later entered Narcotics Anonymous in 2010. He also said psychiatric treatment and medication helped him continue to write and perform.
Munsch has received national honors for his work, including membership in the Order of Canada in 1999 and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto in 2009. He stopped teaching in 1985 to work full time as a teller of stories in schools, drawing inspiration from the children he met during his tours.
Canada’s assisted‑dying regime dates to a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that found prohibiting assisted suicide deprived people of dignity and autonomy, and to legislation passed in 2016. The law initially limited access to those with a reasonably foreseeable death, but subsequent amendments broadened eligibility so that people who are not terminally ill can qualify. Critics say those changes removed a safeguard for people with potentially many years of life ahead.
Today, assisted dying accounts for roughly one in 20 deaths in Canada, according to recent government figures. The program’s expansion has prompted concerns among clinicians and investigators. The notes accompanying Munsch’s announcement cited doctors who say they are uncomfortable providing MAID to patients who are not terminally ill but feel compelled to respect patient autonomy. Some clinicians have also expressed unease about ending the lives of vulnerable people whose suffering might be alleviated by social supports rather than euthanasia.
A 2024 report by Ontario’s chief coroner found some MAID deaths resulted from factors described as "unmet social need," and an Associated Press investigation detailed clinicians’ private struggles with requests from vulnerable people whose suffering could arguably have been addressed by housing, financial assistance or social connection. Those findings have added urgency to parliamentary and public debates over safeguards, eligibility and oversight as Canada moves to further expand MAID eligibility. Parliament has recommended, and legislation has been proposed, to allow access to people with mental illness in coming years and to consider access for minors.
In British Columbia, a small number of physicians have provided a large share of MAID deaths. One doctor, Ellen Wiebe, has been reported to have euthanized more than 430 patients over nine years. Another doctor, Stefanie Green, who trained in maternity care, has spoken about calling MAID deaths "deliveries," reflecting her shift from welcoming life to assisting death.
Munsch’s announcement is likely to intensify public attention on both his work and the broader questions surrounding Canada’s assisted‑dying program. His books have been staples in North American childhoods for decades, even as his personal struggles and later‑life health declines have been well‑documented. For readers and colleagues, the author's decision combines a personal account of illness with the legal and ethical complexities of a national policy that continues to evolve.