PRAF Presents: Global Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Perspectives –What’s Happening With Assisted Suicide Around The World
On Feb. 27, 2025, Matt Valliere, the Executive Director of Patients Rights Action Fund, hosted a panel discussion to examine the issue of assisted suicide worldwide.
Canada
Krista Carr, CEO of Inclusion Canada, explained MAiD (Medical Aid In Dying) legislation in Canada. The original legislation, which she referred to as “Track 1”, was designed to allow anyone who was terminally ill to be eligible for assisted suicide.
Track 2, she said, is “euthanasia for people with disabilities”. It is designed for people with disabilities who are not at the end of their lives, but who are “suffering intolerably.”
Disability organizations are vehemently opposed to Track 2, as it reinforces the social stigma that the lives of people with disabilities are not worth living and promotes coercion. “More than 80% of U.S. doctors believe people with a significant disability have a worse quality of life than those who are not disabled,” Carr points out. The study underscores how physicians’ perceptions across specialties could negatively influence the care of more than 61 million Americans with disabilities. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01452
Survey: Majority of docs hold misconceptions about people with disabilities
In September of 2024, a coalition of disability rights groups challenged MAiD under Sections 7 and 15.
Disability rights groups challenges Canada's assisted dying law in court - JURIST - News
The controversial expansion of MAiD that was proposed would have included those with mental illness – but it has been delayed for 3 years while legislators work to refine terms of the expansion: The Government of Canada introduces legislation to delay Medical Assistance in Dying expansion by 3 years - Canada.ca
According to the nonprofit Angus Reid Institute, the vast majority of Canadians are concerned with the mental health resources available in Canada. Mental Health and MAID: Canadians who struggle to get help more likely to support expanding eligibility -
According to Carr, Canada is currently considered as the “most permissive regime in the world” on the issue of assisted suicide or medical aid in dying.
France
Laurent Fremont, the PR lead for French Palliative Care Association, talked about the controversial decision of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to split France’s end-of-life legislation into two separate laws – one for palliative care and one for assisted dying.
French PM under fire for plans to split controversial assisted dying bill
Currently, France has legalized “deep sedation” before death, but euthanasia and medical aid in dying are illegal. Under proposed legislation, assisted suicide could be legalized as soon as 2026.
‘Aid in dying’: What’s in the new French bill on assisted suicide
Those against assisted suicide are coming together in coalitions to speak out. In Feb. 2023, 800,000 caregivers published a “join ethical opinion” entitled, “Can causing death be considered care?” France: 800,000 Caregivers Express Their Refusal of Euthanasia | FSSPX News
United Kingdom
In November of 2024, members of Parliament took a step toward approving assisted suicide legislation, voting 330 (in favor) to 275 (against). Proponent of the bill, Kim Leadbetter, says the bill is about “giving dying people a choice on how to die.” Danny Kruger, who opposes the legislation, argues that “Parliament can do better for terminally ill people than a ‘state suicide service’. True dignity consists of being cared for in the end.”
Assisted dying: What to know as UK parliament backs contentious laws | SBS News
Labour MP Leadbetter, who introduced the bill, will lead the committee to discuss the bill as well as select the committee members – so there are concerns about a “rigged deck”. The bill could still be altered or voted down as it progresses through the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Films That Shine The Spotlight On The Stigma Surrounding People With Disabilities
Liz Carr, actor and disability rights advocate, is the author of the “Better Off Dead?” documentary that highlights how people with disabilities face discrimination on a regular basis. Better Off Dead? - Liz Carr's documentary on assisted suicide
Sundance Festival Award-winning filmmaker Reid Davenport partnered with Patients Rights Action Fund to produce the documentary, “Life After”. This film exposes the tangled web of profit motives and moral dilemmas surrounding assisted dying. Life After - Patients Rights Action Fund
Safeguards and Loopholes
Where are the safeguards for those most vulnerable to suicide? Where are the loopholes to consider?
Panelists recalled the case of Cody Sontag, a woman in Oregon in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, who stopped eating and drinking in order to qualify for assisted suicide. She used VSED (where a person stops eating and drinking to hasten death) as a bridge to qualify for Medical Aid in Dying.
Using VSED as a bridge to MAiD for people with dementia? – VSED Resources Northwest
Expect to hear more on this topic from coalitions of caregivers, people with disabilities and people who have outlived their original prognosis of “6 months or less” to live.