Canada Halts Plan to Extend Medically Assisted Death to the Mentally Ill
Canada has stepped back from a plan to widen access to medically assisted death to people whose only condition is mental illness. Patients with other conditions who expect cognitive decline will be able to make an advance request.
Canada has put on hold a plan that would have allowed medically assisted death for people with mental illness.
As reported by The New York Times, people whose only condition is a mental illness will not qualify for assisted death.
Advance requests
Another option is being retained for a different group. Patients who have other conditions and who expect to experience cognitive decline will be able to submit an advance request for assisted death.
The available excerpt does not explain how the arrangement will work in practice. It also gives no details on the reasons for the decision or on implementation timelines.
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