Disability Rights Groups Ask Government to Further Delay MAID for the Mentally Ill

Disability rights organizations are calling on Ottawa to pass legislation that would exclude those suffering solely from mental illness from accessing medical assistance in dying (MAID) for another three years. The groups are asking Parliament to vote in favour of Bill C-62, an act that would extend the temporary exclusion of those dealing with mental health issues. “Expanding MAID to people whose sole condition is a mental disorder will lead to even more people contemplating applying for and receiving MAID due to socio-economic suffering,” said ARCH Disability Law Center lawyer Carrie Jaffe during a Feb. 23 press conference. Parliament passed legislation in 2016 allowing eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. Then, in 2020, the government passed Bill C-7, which allowed MAID for Canadians whose natural death is not “reasonably foreseeable.”...