Canada Legalizes Medical Suicide for Severe Mental Illness

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Team of Hukumindo

Previously, the Hukumindo.com platform has talk about "Are Online Agreements Legally-Valid?", "What Are The Competences of The Religious Courts To Adjudicates In Sharia Economic Cases?", "Antigone Case: Law Versus Morality", you may read also "Trial of Socrates" and on this occasion we will discuss about 'Canada Legalizes Medical Suicide for Severe Mental Illness'. This article is fully quoted from www.detik.com sites titled: 'Kanada Legalkan Bunuh Diri Secara Medis untuk Penyakit Mental Parah', as stated in the reference.  

Next year, Canada will be one of the few countries in the world to allow patients with severe and incurable mental illness to seek medical help when dying. Medically assisted suicide, often called medical aid in dying (MAID) or 'euthanasia' to end the suffering of terminally ill adults, was first legalized in Canada in June 2016.[1]

In March 2021, the law was further amended to allow for assisted death for patients who have a deplorable and irreversible medical condition, but not on the basis of mental illness, long-term disability, or incurable condition. The new regulations, which take effect in March 2023, will allow MAID for people whose underlying condition is major depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, schizophrenia, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), or other mental health conditions deemed irreversible with any treatment.[2]

To qualify, as quoted from IFL Science, Friday (8/4/2022) people with mental conditions who will take MAID must be 18 years or older, "mentally competent," give informed consent, and show their decisions are not the result of pressure. or outside influence. However, opinions among experts on this sensitive issue are mixed and it remains unclear how certain aspects of the amended law will be governed.[3]

A recent study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal looked at MAID for people with unresolved psychiatric conditions in the Netherlands, where the procedure has been regulated by law since 2002. This report details how difficult it is to determine whether a mental health condition is truly incurable and incurable. Unlike progressive or degenerative physical health conditions, most mental disorders have no prognostic predictability, which means that it is very difficult, even some experts argue, to predict how the condition will develop or respond to treatment.[4]

The report also notes that about 90% of MAID requests for people with mental illness are rejected by psychiatrists in the Netherlands. Speaking about Canada's recent decision, Dr. Sisco van Veen, one of the Dutch psychiatrists of the study, said there would be a lot of uncertainty in the legal application of MAID.[5]

"In psychiatry, really all you have is the patient's story, and what you see with your eyes and what you hear and what their families say," he said. "I think there will be a lot of uncertainty about how to implement this in March 2023. My hope is that psychiatrists will move very carefully, very carefully," he concluded.[6] And if you have any legal issue, contact us then, feel free in 24 hour, we will be happy to assist you. 

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References:

1. "Kanada Legalkan Bunuh Diri Secara Medis untuk Penyakit Mental Parah", detik.com., Diakses pada tanggal 9 April 2022, https://inet.detik.com/science/d-6023769/kanada-legalkan-bunuh-diri-secara-medis-untuk-penyakit-mental-parah.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.