poisonedminds
Student
- May 8, 2021
- 179
I have been reading through a bunch of documents about medically assisted suicide in Canada. Starting march 2023, patients whose only medical problem is a mental illness will be allowed to apply for the procedure of medically assisted suicide. In preparation, Canada got an advisor team to help establish guidelines and recommendations that will help accept or deny patient's applications. Here's a link to their final report: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/public-engagement/external-advisory-bodies/expert-panel-maid-mental-illness/final-report-expert-panel-maid-mental-illness.html
The main thing that seems to stick out to me so far is that they make a point out of discouraging suicide, even within a program that's literally about medically assisted suicide.
Past suicide attempts as well as suicidal ideation are points of disqualification, rather than evidence of long-term, well-reflected intent and desire to die. Anyone with a known past suicide attempt or suicidal ideation will be less likely to be approved for medically assisted suicide. This makes no sense to me. If anything, the fact that I have been suicidal for years and was even ready to give up my dignity in order to end my life should prove that I am serious in my decision and that I have been thinking about it for a very long time.
Instead, the ''experts'' argue that suicidality caused by mental illness should be an exclusion criteria. Despite them admitting that ''in some conditions, a desire to die can be understandable and rational'', they go on to depict suicidal ideation as highly immoral in the context of mental illness.
They recommend disqualifying anyone whose death wish may be considered a direct symptom of their mental illness, as opposed to a result of the suffering caused by said mental illness. They give examples of mental illnesses that may cause suicidal thoughts as a symptom, such as major depression, bipolar and BPD.
This means you may be disqualified if they think that your suicidality is a symptom of your mental illness as opposed to a normal result of your suffering. This also means they will be able to disqualify literally anyone with a mental illness simply by depicting the death wish as a symptom rather than an expected result of long-term suffering. They give themselves the right to determine whether our suicidality is an expected, understandable and rational result of intense suffering due to mental illness, or just another symptom of said mental illness. If they do come to the conclusion that your suicidal intent is ''just a symptom'', your death wish may well be considered immoral and your application rejected.
In my eyes, this is all a sham. They will be able to reject every single application based on this same reasoning. It is impossible to determine wether suicidal intent is a symptom in itself or a product of other symptoms. Depicting the first variation as morally incorrect but the second as understandable is also incredibly baseless. In reality, they will be able to claim whatever they want without any consequences because none of this is factual, it is all interpretation and a very very loose one at that. Once again we are powerless to the moral police.
In my opinion, this report and their recommendations will do nothing but further stigmatize suicide and infantilize people suffering from severe, long-term mental illness. The worst part? In the guide, they even talk about involuntary hospitalization for applicants whose suicidality is deemed a mere symptom. So not only is it highly likely that most applications from mental-illness-only-patients will be refused on baseless grounds and made-up moral standards, we may even face involuntary hospitalization as a result of filing an application.
Gotta love Canada until you don't.
The main thing that seems to stick out to me so far is that they make a point out of discouraging suicide, even within a program that's literally about medically assisted suicide.
Past suicide attempts as well as suicidal ideation are points of disqualification, rather than evidence of long-term, well-reflected intent and desire to die. Anyone with a known past suicide attempt or suicidal ideation will be less likely to be approved for medically assisted suicide. This makes no sense to me. If anything, the fact that I have been suicidal for years and was even ready to give up my dignity in order to end my life should prove that I am serious in my decision and that I have been thinking about it for a very long time.
Instead, the ''experts'' argue that suicidality caused by mental illness should be an exclusion criteria. Despite them admitting that ''in some conditions, a desire to die can be understandable and rational'', they go on to depict suicidal ideation as highly immoral in the context of mental illness.
They recommend disqualifying anyone whose death wish may be considered a direct symptom of their mental illness, as opposed to a result of the suffering caused by said mental illness. They give examples of mental illnesses that may cause suicidal thoughts as a symptom, such as major depression, bipolar and BPD.
This means you may be disqualified if they think that your suicidality is a symptom of your mental illness as opposed to a normal result of your suffering. This also means they will be able to disqualify literally anyone with a mental illness simply by depicting the death wish as a symptom rather than an expected result of long-term suffering. They give themselves the right to determine whether our suicidality is an expected, understandable and rational result of intense suffering due to mental illness, or just another symptom of said mental illness. If they do come to the conclusion that your suicidal intent is ''just a symptom'', your death wish may well be considered immoral and your application rejected.
In my eyes, this is all a sham. They will be able to reject every single application based on this same reasoning. It is impossible to determine wether suicidal intent is a symptom in itself or a product of other symptoms. Depicting the first variation as morally incorrect but the second as understandable is also incredibly baseless. In reality, they will be able to claim whatever they want without any consequences because none of this is factual, it is all interpretation and a very very loose one at that. Once again we are powerless to the moral police.
In my opinion, this report and their recommendations will do nothing but further stigmatize suicide and infantilize people suffering from severe, long-term mental illness. The worst part? In the guide, they even talk about involuntary hospitalization for applicants whose suicidality is deemed a mere symptom. So not only is it highly likely that most applications from mental-illness-only-patients will be refused on baseless grounds and made-up moral standards, we may even face involuntary hospitalization as a result of filing an application.
Gotta love Canada until you don't.
