Euthanasia requests in a Canadian psychiatric emergency room: A case series: Part 1 of the McGill University euthanasia in psychiatry case series

Abstract

Euthanasia was decriminalized in Quebec in December 2015, and Canada-wide in June 2016. Both the Provincial and Federal legislation have limited the right to medical assistance in dying (MAID) to end-of-life cases; which makes MAID inaccessible to most patients solely suffering from psychiatric illness. While some end-stage anorexia nervosa or elderly patients may meet the end-of-life criterion because of their medical comorbidities or their age (Kelly et al., 2003), repeated suicide attempts or psychotic disorganization would not qualify since they would not be seen as elements of an illness leading to a foreseeable “natural death” (Canada, 2016). This is in contradiction to other jurisdictions, such as Belgium and the Netherlands as well as the eligibility criteria stated in the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Carter v. Canada (Supreme Court of Canada, 2015). Here we analyze three cases of patients who presented to a psychiatric emergency department and requested MAID for psychiatric reasons. While none of the patients were eligible for MAID under Canadian law, we find that their demographics match closely that of patients granted MAID for psychiatric reasons in jurisdictions where that practice is allowed. Based on these cases, we comment on potentially negative consequences that may come from decriminalizing MAID for psychiatric reasons (such as an increased assessment burden on ED staff) and potentially positive consequences (such as encouraging suffering patients who had not consulted to seek care). While it is by no means our intention to take a political or moral stand on this important issue, or to conclusively weigh the negatives and positives of allowing MAID for psychiatric reasons, we do stress the importance of an active voice for psychiatry in this ongoing public debate.