Assisted death in Canada: "With medicine we add years to life, but not always life to years"
The suffering of Jacques Poissant ended the day he asked his daughter if it would be "cowardly to ask for help to die". This retired Canadian insurance advisor...
TL;DR
- Assisted death has been legal in Canada since 2016 for terminal cases and expanded in 2021 for serious, incurable illnesses.
- A study will examine extending assisted death to individuals with sole mental health conditions.
- Concerns exist about the potential trivialization of assisted death and the difficulty in predicting mental illness evolution.
- Individuals seeking assisted death must meet criteria including decision-making capacity and unbearable suffering.
- Families are increasingly choosing to celebrate the lives of loved ones during their final moments with ceremonies.
- Approximately 80% of Canadians support assisted death, though debates continue regarding its expansion.