Opposition parties call for indefinite pause to MAID expansion for mental illness

Conservative and NDP members of the joint committee on medical assistance in dying (MAID) say they want an indefinite pause on the pending expansion of MAID eligibility to include cases of mental illness. "What I think we need to be led by is ... compassion," said Kutcher, a psychiatrist who pushed for MAID to include mental illness. "We certainly recognize that there is equivalency between physical suffering and mental suffering," Holland said. The province has stated that mental illness is "not considered to be an illness" for the purposes of MAID. Health Minister Mark Holland has not ruled out another delay in opening MAID to people with mental illness.