Abstract
A 2017 survey of 529 psychiatrists in Canada found that while 72% of psychiatrists supported medical assistance in dying (MAID) in some cases, only 29.4% supported MAID solely on the basis of mental disorders. Understanding and addressing the concerns of mental health professionals will be crucial in deciding whether and how to expand MAID solely for a mental disorder in Canada. The report, “The State of Knowledge on Medical Assistance in Dying Where a Mental Disorder Is the Sole Underlying Medical Condition,” authored by The Council of Canadian Academies, highlights some concerns that mental health professionals might harbour. These include potentially feeling that there is a conflict between providing MAID and their duties as mental health care workers, the subjectivity of the current law, and Canada’s inequitable mental health care system.
Highlights
A 2017 survey of 529 psychiatrists in Canada found that while 72% of psychiatrists supported medical assistance in dying (MAID) in some cases, only 29.4% supported MAID solely on the basis of mental disorders
Under the Act to Amend the Criminal Code and to Make Related Amendments to Other Acts (Medical Assistance in Dying), individuals seeking MAID to alleviate suffering from a mental disorder are unlikely to meet the eligibility criteria
To be permitted MAID, a person must have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” defined by: A serious and incurable illness, disease or disability; an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; that illness, disease or disability or that state of decline causes them enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable; and their natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all of their medical circumstances, without a prognosis necessarily having been made as to the specific length of time that they have remaining.[2]
Summary
A 2017 survey of 529 psychiatrists in Canada found that while 72% of psychiatrists supported medical assistance in dying (MAID) in some cases, only 29.4% supported MAID solely on the basis of mental disorders. Medical assistance in dying (MAID) solely on the basis of mental disorders is a highly controversial issue, especially amongst psychiatrists.
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