After a series of deliberations in the Canadian court , a new law to be passed , which would legalize Doctor Assisted Suicide for mentally ill .
Beginning March 2023, patients with health disorders including depression, bipolar disorder and PTSD , and other terminal illnesses will be able to seek doctor-assisted deaths (Medically Assisted Death) if they are suffering from unbearable psychological pain.
In an interview with Dr Hardy of Exit International , “Over 80% of those seeking Assisted Suicide ( MAID) are cancer sufferers, and the move to expand the service has caused deep divides among mental health professionals “.
The Dutch psychiatrist Dr. Sisco van Veen told the National Post that when it comes to diseases such as terminal cancer, ‘there is something inside the body that can be seen’, though this is not always the case with mental illness.
However Dr. Dr. Hardy , a forensic psychiatrist in Halifax, told the outlet: “My hope is that psychiatrists will move cautiously and carefully to make sure Doctor Assisted Suicide is not being used as something instead of equitable access to good care.”
Doctor Assisted Suicide for psychiatric suffering has been available since 2002 in the Netherlands.
A Canadian high court ruled in 2015 that adults suffering a ‘grievous and irremediable’ medical condition that caused unbearable suffering had the right to a Voluntary Euthanasia or could order the Peaceful Pills after a prescription is issued them .
This ruling was the foundation for Bill C-14 – Canada’s MAID law – which permitted Doctor assisted Suicide when natural death was ‘reasonably foreseeable’.
Canada went a step further in 2019 when a Quebec Superior Court decided the ‘reasonably foreseeable’ regulation was unconstitutional.
It was ruled that people whose death was not ‘reasonably foreseeable’ should still be eligible for Voluntary euthanasia that is if they wish to .
A new bill, Bill C-7, was passed in March 2021 and made changes to eligibility criteria for Assisted Suicide , getting rid of the ‘reasonably foreseeable’ rule.
Once a two-year sunset clause passes in March 2023, MAID will become available to those with psychiatric problems.
Writing for The Atlantic in June 2019, psychiatrist Scott Kim claimed the Netherlands and Canada had become ‘too comfortable with euthanasia’.