Activists sue Canada to expand euthanasia law to cover those with mental illness

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 22, 2024 / 15:00 pm

A Canadian nonprofit filed a legal challenge against the federal government calling for an expansion of the country’s euthanasia program to allow physician-assisted suicide for those suffering from mental illness.

The constitutional challenge — filed by Dying With Dignity Canada (DWDC) — claims the Canadian government is discriminating against those who are mentally ill because suffering from mental illness is not sufficient to qualify someone for the country’s euthanasia program, formally called medical aid in dying (MAID).

If successful, this would mean that a person could obtain a physician-assisted suicide simply because he or she is living with a mental illness and wants to end his or her life because of suffering caused by the mental illness.

Canadian lawmakers officially legalized voluntary euthanasia in June 2016 for those suffering from physical illnesses, diseases, or disabilities. Although people suffering from a mental illness do not currently qualify for physician-assisted suicide if their condition is solely mental illness, the government is scheduled to expand eligibility to include mental illness on March 17, 2027.

Including “mental illness” as one of the legal justifications for euthanasia in Canada has been controversial. The government initially planned to expand access to euthanasia to those with mental illnesses by 2023, but it was then delayed to 2024 and again delayed until 2027. A parliamentary report said the government’s most recent delay was because the country’s health system was “not ready.”

The legal challenge claims that the government delaying this expansion violates section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which requires equal treatment under the law and prohibits discrimination against several protected classes, including people with mental disabilities.

“This lawsuit is an important step in recognizing that people with a mental illness deserve the same respect, access to medical services, choice, and dignity as all other people across Canada,” DWDC CEO Helen Long said in a statement. 

“Some individuals with a mental illness experience enduring and intolerable suffering, and that suffering needs to be recognized as equally devastating as physical suffering,” Long added. “We have processes to determine whether a person is capable of making fundamental life decisions; all capable adults must be respected in their decisions and their choices honored.”

Although supporters of expanding euthanasia to those who suffer from mental illness appeal to the concept of human dignity, the Catholic Church in Canada has been staunchly opposed to this interpretation of human dignity and has condemned the euthanasia program.

In May 2023, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a message to the faithful that stated that euthanasia “undermines the universal and inviolable dignity of human life and harms the building up of society.” The bishops further warned that expanding euthanasia to people with disabilities “may predispose them to suicide.”

“[There are] a growing number of troubling cases of people choosing MAID because of loneliness, poverty, social pressure, as well as lack of support and access to care,” the bishops added. “A patient diagnosed with a terminal condition or living in a situation of prolonged suffering must be offered whatever life-affirming relief and hope are available.”

Jimmy Akin, a senior apologist at Catholic Answers, told CNA that people who have mental illness have “the same foundational dignity as all other human beings” and that “killing the patient is not a compassionate solution.” 

“We must alleviate their pain — including through medical means — and help them find meaning,” Akin said. “The idea of killing people because they are experiencing mental problems is filled with potential to exploit the vulnerable, as many health professionals and impersonal agencies will push patients to end their lives rather than seeking genuine solutions.”

Akin also warned that government officials have an economic incentive to promote euthanasia, saying “a suicide drug is cheaper than helping a person work through a difficult issue, and economic factors will lead bureaucracies to push hurting people toward death.”

Some Canadians who are suffering from diseases or disabilities have reported that doctors have encouraged them to pursue euthanasia even when they do not want it. In June of this year, a 49-year-old man named Roger Foley said he was offered euthanasia “multiple times” because of his disease, cerebellar ataxia. 

“When I say I’m suicidal, I’m met with, ‘Well, the hospital has a program to help you with that if you want to end your life,’” Foley said in a video with Amanda Achtman of the Dying to Meet You project. 

“That didn’t exist before [MAID] was legalized, but now it’s there,” he said. “There is not going to be a second within the rest of my life that I’m not going to have flashbacks to [being offered suicide], the devaluing of me and all that I am.”

Christine Gauthier, a veteran and paralympian, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in December 2022 that Veterans Affairs offered her euthanasia when she was trying to get funding for a wheelchair ramp.

“The tragedy is that healing and hope are available, and the cold, inhuman policies of bureaucracies will lead to the victimization of many,” Akin told CNA. “Society needs to recognize the intrinsic dignity of all human beings and hold to a firm ethic of life in order to avoid such victimization.”