Disability community feels ignored in Canada’s assisted dying expansion

On 29 February, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party confirmed that a proposed expansion of its medical assistance in dying (MAID) measures would be delayed for a second time.1 Originally proposed in a 2021 amendment to the 2016 law, it would have added mental illness as a qualifying condition for MAID.The expansion never came to pass. After initially committing to 17 March 2024, the government has pushed it back another three years to 2027 following a parliamentary report from the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. It stated that the country is “not yet ready” for the expansion, with fundamental questions of implementation yet to be answered. These include assessing irremediability (that is, the condition is incurable or irreversible); distinguishing MAID requests from suicidality; a lack of professional consensus; the availability of trained practitioners; and further considerations surrounding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.23People with disabilities and disability advocates…
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