Canada re-thinks medical aid in dying for psychiatric diseases

 A column in the Washington Post conveys the story:

With 76,475 dead, Canada appears to find its line on euthanasia
A parliamentary committee recommends against expanding it to psychiatric patients. By Charles Lane

 "In the decade since Canada legalized euthanasia, known there as medical assistance in dying, or MAID, its physician-assisted death regime has developed into one of the most permissive in the world. Between 2016 and 2024, 76,475 Canadians received lethal doses from doctors or nurse practitioners. The 16,499 cases in 2024 accounted for 1 out of 20 deaths in Canada. In some regions of Quebec, the rate is 13 out of 100. 

"Now, however, Canada might finally be maxing out on MAID. On June 17, a special parliamentary committee recommended that the government “indefinitely exclude” patients whose only medical condition is a psychiatric one such as depression or schizophrenia. Pro-euthanasia activists had urged that MAID eligibility be expanded to include them, but “safe and equitable implementation” of MAID in such cases is simply not possible, the committee said.

... 

"The committee also took the testimony of doctors from the Netherlands, one of two countries (Belgium is the other) where psychiatric euthanasia has long been allowed as part of a broader MAID regime — and where it has recently gone from rare exception to troublingly frequent occurrence. Nearly 850 people have received lethal injections for psychiatric suffering there since 2020, including teenagers as young as 16.

In fact, at roughly the same time as the Canadian commission issued its report, the Dutch themselves were tapping the brakes on psychiatric euthanasia. The Netherlands’ main professional organization for psychiatrists has issued new guidelines requiring stricter prior scrutiny for euthanasia requests." 

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 Here is the Canadian parliamentary report:

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING AND MENTAL DISORDER AS THE SOLE UNDERLYING MEDICAL CONDITION: A COMPLEX AND CHALLENGING CONVERSATION AMONG CANADIANS
Report of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying
Hon. Yonah Martin and Marcus Powlowsk, Co-chairs.

"Ultimately, the committee makes the following recommendation:
Recommendation 1
That the Government of Canada amend the Criminal Code to indefinitely exclude persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness from eligibility for medical assistance in dying. "