UK must not follow Canada in 'aggressive' assisted suicide legislation

Last week, MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee heard from experts on assisted suicide. They looked at the way in which parameters have loosened in places such as Canada, which has been described to have a “very aggressive medical system of euthanasia”.

Dr Scott Kim, a professor in psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and senior investigator at the department of bioethics at the National Institute of Health in the US, described the take up of assisted suicide across Canada as a “very disturbing societal norm”.

Kim told MPs: “The law itself says this doesn’t have to be a last resort, which means that a person could genuinely lack access to disability services, to outpatient psychiatric treatment, which is common in Canada. Those people would still qualify. And I think that’s a very disturbing societal norm.”

The provision has been defended as a “form of harm reduction”, according to Canadian professor Trudo Lemmens who initially supported the introduction of such legislation. He shared with the Committee that “Canada is a warning sign for countries that contemplate legalising medical assistance in dying or assisted suicide and euthanasia”.

Medically assisted death (Maid) as it is known in Canada, was introduced in 2016 to allow Canadians aged 18 and over with a serious and irreversible condition. Cases have risen fast over the years and in 2021, the most recent figures available, there were just over 10,000 cases, which accounts for 3.3% of all deaths in Canada.

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK, but is under threat: consultations are currently underway in Jersey, and the Isle of Man. In Scotland, Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying Bill is making headway.