Canada halts assisted suicide for mental illness but allows advance requests

Canada has decided not to legalise assisted suicide for those with mental health issues if they are the sole reason for choosing to die. However, they have moved to implement advance requests for assisted suicide for those who lose decision-making capability.

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) has been legal in Canada for those at the end of their lives since 2016, and has been extended since then. In 2021 the government added those with serious and incurable illnesses, even if death was not “reasonably foreseeable”. The law was due to be further extended to those with mental health conditions by 2024, however the government delayed the implementation to make sure the mental health system was ready. The exclusion was due to expire in March, from which point mentally ill patients would be eligible for assisted suicide.

However the Canadian government has chosen to put forward a bill prohibiting this from happening. Justice Minister, Sean Fraser, told reporters: “Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion [of assisted suicide],” adding: “While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach.” This came after an advisory panel recommended that the extension should not go ahead, raising concerns about the lack of mental health support which may means patient choose to die because they could not access care.

“In Canada, if you’re depressed but able-bodied, you don’t qualify for MAID,” pro-life advocate Amanda Achtman said. “But, if you’re depressed and use a wheelchair, you do qualify for MAID. Canada already euthanizes people with mental illness if they also have a physical illness, disability, or neurological condition.”

At the same time, the Canadian government are looking to expand assisted suicide to allow for advance requests. This would allow someone who loses their decision-making capacity through an illness such as dementia to request assisted suicide ahead of time.

This move raises serious questions about consent. “Because someone’s now incapable of consenting or requesting, it’s a good idea now to do this because they might have asked for it in the past?” Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said. “The whole concept of consent becomes very problematic.”

Amanda Achtman said the government “intend to table a bill banning death for depression while expanding death for dementia,” adding: “Protecting those with dementia from dehumanization is the new life issue of our time.”

The government have put the prohibition of MAID for mental illness, and the expansion for advance requests, together into the same Bill. This means those who want to see assisted suicide stopped for those with mental health conditions will need to vote against its prohibition in order to stop the permission of advance requests. “The Liberal government is incredibly sly,” Achtman wrote on social media. “Those properly opposed to euthanasia will not be able to support this bill, despite having campaigned for months to stop MAID for mental illness.”