Citation

Provencher-Renaud G, Larivee S, Sénéchal C. Ann. Med. Psychol. (Paris) 2019; 177(8): 801-808.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Societe Medico-Psychologique, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.amp.2018.08.022

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Since the Carter judgment in 2015, voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in Canada. The purpose of this article is to analyze the relevance of making people with mental disorders eligible for medical aid in dying (MAD). The text consists of three parts. The first part presents the history of the legalization of the MAD in Canada. In the second part, we discuss the extension of the MAD to individuals suffering from mental disorders. We then insist on five aspects: the MAD and suicide in Quebec, suicide's place in the values of Quebec society, a reflection on rational suicide and the impact of mental health on the ability to make decisions, the respect of the laws and their application as well as assisted suicide of people with mental disorders in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the third part, we suggest four recommendations: to extend the requests to cases with mental disorders whose suffering is refractory to all care, to increase the minimum delay for the treatment of these requests, to systematically include a mental health specialist and to involve the loved ones throughout the process. © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS

Language: en

Keywords

human; suicide; Suicide; Ethics; assisted suicide; Euthanasia; Legislation; Pain; mental disease; dying; health care policy; health care access; medical decision making; medical care; Comparative analysis; Article; therapy delay; Clinical case; Historical; Psychiatric pathology; Recommendation