Canadian Physicians Urge Government to Reconsider MAID Expansion for Mental Illness
Concerned physicians gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday to voice strong opposition against Canada's planned expansion of its medical assistance in death framework. The doctors expressed deep concerns about the scheduled inclusion of mental illness as the sole medical condition for seeking physician-assisted suicide, which is set to take effect next year.
Support for Bill C-218
During a morning news conference in West Block, members of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition offered their support for Bill C-218, a private member's bill intended to prevent next year's inclusion of mental illness as the sole medical condition for seeking physician-assisted suicide. The bill, tabled last spring by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen, aims to permanently halt the inclusion of what is known as "track two MAID" for those whose death is not a reasonable outcome in the foreseeable future.
"I want to provide a voice to our most vulnerable, those who have or are suffering from mental illness," said Dr. Peter Blusanovics, a Montreal physician who spoke at Monday morning's news conference. "Basic needs are currently not being met in our healthcare system. Without Bill C-218, we are condoning a bypass towards suicide, and blatantly admitting defeat."
Concerns About Healthcare System Support
Dr. Blusanovics emphasized that mental illness needs to be identified and treated properly, arguing that those seeking medical suicide are actually seeking healing rather than death. He highlighted significant gaps in the current healthcare system that make the expansion particularly dangerous.
"There is a current lack of medical support, such as physicians, psychologists, social workers — there is a lack of psychiatric support and long waiting lists to be assessed," said Blusanovics, who works at a Montreal psychiatric hospital. "I know that offering medical aid in dying provides no solution. Everyone deserves the right to be treated with dignity and humanity."
Controversial Expansion Timeline
In February 2024, legislation was passed to formally expand MAID to those whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness, with the change coming into effect on March 17, 2027. Patients seeking MAID are assigned to one of two tracks: track one for those with terminal illnesses or whom natural death is near, and track two for those whose death is not a reasonable outcome in the foreseeable future.
Although Statistics Canada doesn't include MAID in its annual top-10 list of most common causes of death, government figures revealed that 16,499 Canadians died via MAID in 2024. This made medical suicide that year's fourth most common cause of death between accidents (20,260) and strokes (13,725).
Informed Consent Concerns
Dr. Paul Saba, a family physician from Lachine, Quebec, told reporters there's no way for most psychiatrists to determine which patients' conditions are untreatable, raising serious questions about informed consent.
"From a legal standpoint, those with mental disorders requesting euthanasia, which has been euphemistically called 'medical assistance in dying,' do not meet the condition of free and informed consent, because the desire to die in most cases is a symptom of mental illness," he said Monday morning.
Provincial Opposition Growing
Last month, Alberta's provincial legislature tabled a bill that would prevent their physicians from prescribing MAID for track two patients, citing patient safety and growing skepticism for the federal government's efforts to expand MAID eligibility.
"The consequences of the decision are permanent and irrevocable, and because of this, we have an obligation to consider MAID with the utmost care and caution," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a news conference in Edmonton last month.
The bill is currently undergoing second reading in the House of Commons and was on the order paper Monday to receive its second round of debate as physicians continue to advocate for more comprehensive mental health treatment options rather than expanded access to medical assistance in death.
