Experts struggle with ethics of assisted death for people with mental disorders
OTTAWA — Experts the federal government charged with looking at whether people suffering only from mental disorders should be eligible for medically assisted death couldn’t even agree on what evidence is relevant to the question, according to reports tabled in Parliament Wednesday.
There was more consensus on two other issues: whether mature minors should be eligible for assisted dying and whether those facing eventual loss of mental capacity should be able to make advance requests for assisted deaths.
The three issues were examined by working groups created by the independent Council of Canadian Academies, representing some of Canada’s most august intellectuals. The government specifically instructed the council to make no recommendations on any of the three issues, so the reports released Wednesday just summarize the “state of knowledge” on the issues and canvass the pros and cons of extending the right to an assisted death to each group.
The government has already indicated it has little intention of expanding the law, which went into effect two-and-a-half years ago.