Four psychiatrists have called for mental health patients to continue to be offered hope instead of euthanasia. Since the country introduced euthanasia in 2002, the number of reported cases has increased dramatically from 1,882 to 8,720 in 2022. SuicideThe group told The Guardian how “value-laden many psychiatric diagnoses are and how nebulous a term such as ‘unbearable suffering’ must remain. They added: “Allowing euthanasia for mental health problems suggests a conflict between the policy of suicide prevention and a policy of suicide promotion. The expansion of the legislation to those who suffer from mental health problems has now been pushed back to 2027, after Canada’s Minister of Health Mark Holland admitted that the Government has heard “loud and clear that the health system is not yet ready”.

Source: The Guardian June 10, 2024 10:22 UTC