Federal Justice Minister David Lametti introduced legislation last week that will defer for a year the expansion of medically assisted suicides for people whose sole condition is a mental disorder.
The legislation was needed because the Liberal government had agreed to expand eligibility in its 2021 update on the assisted dying law and the clock was ticking on that pledge.
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The NDP and Bloc Quebecois have indicated they will support the bill to delay the changes within the six-week window remaining for them to do so.
Federal officials say they need more time to develop guidelines for such a controversial expansion of the MAID law.
Psychiatrists and advocates for those who suffer from mental illness are divided on its implementation. Those who are opposed to it point out that mental illness is treatable and warn against such a measure.
Canada has one of broadest laws in the world allowing for medically assisted suicide. Few other countries have any such provisions. When MAID legislation was originally enacted in 2016 it was seen as a humane measure that would allow a terminally ill person to end his or her pain and suffering on their own terms.
Since then, it’s become a minefield for doctors and other health-care professionals.
Last year, Dr. Louis Roy of the Quebec College of Physicians told the Commons Special Joint Committee on MAID that his organization believed assisted suicide can be appropriate for infants born with “severe malformations,” and “grave and severe syndromes” and who had little prospect of survival, “so to speak.”
The proposal to allow those with mental illness to seek assistance is dying is also now controversial.
Tabling the bill last week, Lametti said the government had heard from various sources that they should “slow this down.”
On Twitter, Conservative MP Michael Cooper said the “dangerous expansion” needs to be “scrapped altogether.”
The government should listen carefully to those in the medical profession. Psychiatrists have raised the risk that a person may receive assisted dying when they have a chance of recovery.
Unless and until all those parties involved can come up with clear and consistent guidelines that can be adhered to across the board, the government should shelve this proposal for good.
