Medical Assistance in Dying : Easy Access to Death?

  Canada is among 12 countries in the world that have made assisted death legal.

   Brought into law 6 years ago, MAID continues to be a point of contention in this country. More than 31,000 people have received medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada since then, with the number of recipients growing steadily each year.

 When Bill C-7 was initially passed, the caveat to accessing the procedure was that one’s death had to be reasonably foreseeable.

  Since then the law has changed and allows those with a serious and incurable illness disease or disability to access MAID.

    People with mental illness as their sole underlying condition were supposed to gain access to MAiD this spring. However, the federal government recently postponed that expansion to March 2024.

Critics say the law is flawed and has made it too easy for Canadians to choose death. 44-year-old Sathya Dhara Kovac died at the beginning of October, accessing medical assistance in dying. She said that she didn’t have enough home care support to help her cope with her disease.

Today on Context – Medical Assistance in Dying: has it become too easy in this country to die?