Canada risks ‘suicide contagion’ if euthanasia is approved for mental illness, psychiatrist warns

Dr. John Maher, who specializes in treating severe mental illness, spoke at a special joint parliamentary committee weighing Canada's plan to extend MAID for mental disorders. Photo by ParlVu

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People with mental illnesses are already dying assisted deaths in Canada “under the guise of flimsy medical excuses” and others will “doctor shop until death” if euthanasia is allowed for psychiatric suffering alone, MPs and senators were told this week.

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“I and other colleagues are experiencing this: People are clearly getting MAID for reasons that are frankly illegal,” psychiatrist Dr. John Maher told a special joint parliamentary committee weighing Canada’s readiness to extend assisted death to those whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.

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Maher, who specializes in treating severe mental illness, also warned Canada risks a “suicide contagion” effect if medical assistance in dying (MAID) becomes seen as a legitimate option for mental suffering. He pointed to the Werther Effect, a phenomenon that refers to a rise in suicides after publicized reports of celebrity deaths by suicide.

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Rates of suicide in jurisdictions that have legalized doctor-assisted death “have risen much faster after it was legalized than before,” he said.

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“Suicide contagion is a well-proven reality. Don’t pretend that it won’t happen in Canada,” he said.

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The committee has heard conflicting testimony over the safety of expanding MAID eligibility to those with mental illness alone, including over whether, or how, a mental disorder could be considered incurable.

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Maher, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, works with specialized teams that treat the most severe mental illnesses.

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“For the last 23 years I’ve treated patients that other psychiatrists told me could not get better and they get better,” he told the committee.

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“Suffering can always be reduced…. There is absolutely no such thing as ‘everything has been tried,'” he said.

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Only one in three adults and one in five children in Canada have access to needed mental-health care, leaving people to suffer from an “appalling and intentional lack of services,” he said.

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While the exclusion for mental illness is only due to expire in 2027, “people are getting MAID for psychiatric reasons under the guise of flimsy medical excuses, prolific MAID providers are happy to assist with suicide while people are on wait lists for effective treatment (and) MAID is being offered to veterans, disabled people and people with very treatable illnesses,” Maher said.

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“People need lifeguards, not someone to push you under,” he said.

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Maher rejected the argument by MAID proponents that a request for assisted death is well thought out while true suicides are impulsive.

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“Decades of suicide research put the lie to this: 80 per cent of suicide attempters thoughtfully plan their suicides,” he said.

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“MAID is suicide par excellence, like having a wedding planner to make it all as easy as possible, even with same-day service.”