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New bill set to delay expansion of assisted dying for mental illness

Click to play video: 'Life and death: what the MAID law expansion delay means for medically-assisted death'
Life and death: what the MAID law expansion delay means for medically-assisted death
WATCH ABOVE: What the MAID law expansion delay means for medically-assisted death – Dec 16, 2022

The federal government is expected to introduce a law as early as Thursday to delay the extension of medically assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.

Justice Minister David Lametti announced in December that Ottawa intended to seek the delay after hearing concerns the health-care system might not be prepared for an expanded regime, but he did not offer a timeline on the length of the delay.

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An update to assisted dying law that passed in 2021 put a two-year clock on the extension of eligibility that runs out in March.

Click to play video: 'Thoughts of suicide ‘not a reason’ to get medically-assisted dying: Lametti'
Thoughts of suicide ‘not a reason’ to get medically-assisted dying: Lametti

The Liberal government did not originally plan for that law to extend assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness, but it approved a Senate amendment to do so.

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Senators argued that excluding people with mental illness would conflict with their Charter right to equal treatment.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper says the government’s decision to seek a delay underscores its “reckless approach” to expanding the regime, and he says Liberals should scrap the expansion entirely.

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