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John Ivison: Finally a plea to slow the ‘runaway’ MAID train

A committee recommendation to permanently exclude mental illness as a sole qualifier for euthanasia is one the government should embrace

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The joint House and Senate committee studying the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) has recommended a permanent exclusion of those patients whose sole condition is mental illness.

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It’s a recommendation the government should embrace. Given the expert testimony MPs and senators heard in the spring, it was perhaps the only conclusion the committee could reach if it wanted to retain the support of the Canadian public.

John Ivison: Finally a plea to slow the ‘runaway’ MAID train Back to video

Back in March, K. Sonu Gaind, professor at the University of Toronto and chief of psychiatry at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, told MPs and senators that studies have shown MAID assessors have a 47 per cent accuracy rate when it comes to treatment-resistant depression.

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“That is worse than flipping a coin,” he said.

The conclusion that there is no accurate way to diagnose whether mental illness is incurable was endorsed by the heads of psychiatry departments at 13 Canadian medical schools, all of whom called for the expansion to be halted.

The majority on the special committee did not like Gaind’s odds, a feeling reflected in the report tabled late Wednesday........

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