Oh Canada, The Land Of Maple Syrup To Legalize Euthanizing The Mentally Ill

That sounds crazy but sure enough, the ‘Great White North’ has plans to legalize euthanasia on the mentally ill according to Psychiatric Times:

“Canada is the latest nation to legalize voluntary death for psychiatric conditions. In 2016, Canada passed Bill C-14, a law permitting medical euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, together known as medical aid in dying (MAID). By November 2020, more than 19,000 individuals nearing the end of life had been voluntarily euthanized.

A key eligibility criterion of this law was that a patient’s natural death is predicted to be reasonably foreseeable, a unique Canadian terminology that was not statutorily defined. Although it was associated with the end of life, how close was never decided. Because death from mental disorders was not seen as strongly predictable, mental illnesses were not considered eligible conditions. This feature of the law was a check on the kind of psychiatric euthanasia practiced in the Benelux countries.

In 2019, however, a Quebec Superior Court ruling challenged the constitutionality of restricting the C-14 right of euthanasia to those whose death is reasonably foreseeable.

As a result, a new federal bill was introduced to extend euthanasia eligibility, without limiting it to the end of life. This new initiative, Bill C-7, followed the Benelux model; it and removed the prior exclusion of those who have non-terminal chronic illnesses and permitted euthanasia for those whose psychological or physical suffering is deemed intolerable and untreatable.”

Currently, several countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, allow patients who are suicidal to receive death by either lethal injection (euthanasia) or a self-administered prescription for lethal medication (assisted suicide). In 2002 Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (all 3 collectively known as Benelux) legalized both these practices.

This just sounds like our northern brothers have taken a page out of Hitler’s playbook to me. What do you think?

Send this to a friend