Canada is set to authorize an expansion of euthanasia that “goes too far,” according to the Washington Post Editorial Board. On March 17, the country is expected to authorize “Medical Assistance in Dying” for patients with psychiatric conditions, such as depression or schizophrenia, determined to be unbearable. Canada currently allows lethal injection, administered by practitioners, for patients with unbearable physical conditions.
The expansion is dangerous, as people with psychiatric conditions may have trouble assessing reality and can have symptoms that are difficult to specify, the board writes. “Empowering a mentally ill person to invoke a physician’s aid in ending his or her suffering — by ending life itself — inverts the most basic goal of psychiatry, which is to prevent suicide rather than to facilitate it.”
A report due Jan. 31 from a parliamentary commission will be considered by the government in deciding whether to further delay implementation.
The Post Editorial Board advises the U.S. to stay abreast the expansion and its potential outcomes and use it as a learning experience. “Establishing clear, consistent, ethical rules to govern where, when and how physicians might be involved in ending lives, rather than saving them, is inherently difficult,” it writes, adding that “people of good will can disagree as to what compassion requires.”
