Canadian woman with depression offered assisted suicide after lack of hospital beds

A Canadian woman has spoken out about her shock after being offered access to assisted suicide rather than being able to see a psychiatrist when she went into hospital with feelings of depression and hopelessness.

Kathrin Mentler, 37, had a history of self-harm, and said she took herself to the hospital because she wanted help. She filled out forms and shared her mental health difficulties and feelings of depression with a clinician. Despite wanting to stay the night to be treated by a psychologist, she was told there were not enough beds. Instead, she was asked 'Have you considered MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying)?'

She said to The Globe 'I very specifically went there that day because I didn't want to get into a situation where I would think about taking an overdose of medication...The more I think about it, I think it brings up more and more ethical and moral questions around it.'

Access to assisted suicide on mental health grounds is not currently supposed to be legal in Canada, but is due to be introduced in 2024 in the latest expansion of the laws. The law had initially been brought in for over 18s who were terminally ill, with a number of safeguards, which were swiftly eroded.

Canada has been under fire in recent months after a number of adverse headlines about the MAiD programme, including:

• Army veterans with PTSD being offered assisted suicide
• A Paralympian who was struggling to get access to a stairlift being offered assisted suicide as an alternative
• Calls to extend assisted suicide to 'mature minors' and bypass parental consent
• 1/3 of Canadians now being in favour of assisted suicide for people who are poor or homeless

The programme has seen an enormous increase in uptake since first being introduced in 2016 (1,018 deaths). This year 13,500 people are predicted to access it, making it one of the leading causes of death in the country.

There are fears that given the pressures on the NHS, assisted suicide might be seen as an efficient way of reducing costs for the terminally in the UK.