Overview

Since legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide as medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in 2016, Canada has witnessed an internationally unprecedented expansion of the practice, making it the country with the highest number of MAiD deaths. Initially introduced to relieve suffering in a broad end-of-life context, the law expanded quickly to make MAiD available to disabled Canadians not approaching their natural deaths. MAID will also become legal for sole reasons of mental illness sometime after 2027, and there are plans to expand it further to include minors and advance requests. From a cross-disciplinary perspective, including contributions from authors with lived experience, Indigenous perspectives, and expertise in medicine, mental health, disability, law, and ethics, Unravelling MAiD in Canada challenges readers with the ethical, medical, legal, societal, and disability justice rights concerns that have arisen in regard to this hotly debated irreversible practice. Canada now provides more state-facilitated euthanasia and assisted suicide than any other country. This volume puts forth critical reflections and valuable insights as more jurisdictions consider their own assisted dying laws and policies.

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9780228023692

Table of Contents

Reviews

“A reasoned, data-based, and multidisciplinary caution about the implications of providing state-funded assisted suicide to people with disabilities who are not dying, to those experiencing mental illness, to those who no longer have the capacity to consent to MAiD, and to ‘mature’ minors. Compassion for human suffering and commitment to ethical practice shine out from every page.” Elizabeth Sheehy, author of Defending Battered Women on Trial: Lessons from the Transcripts

Author Information

Ramona Coelho is a family physician in London, ON, and a founding member of Physicians Together with Vulnerable Canadians. She is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. K. Sonu Gaind is professor and governor at the University of Toronto and chief of psychiatry at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Trudo Lemmens is professor and Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy at the Faculty of Law and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

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