As I already indicated in my statement, I think it's the wrong approach to start saying, as Professor Downie does, that people already have access to MAID for mental illness so these situations have been addressed where needed.
My work, as a member of the Ontario MAID death review committee.... We reviewed the full files. We talk in detail about these files. The reports are published, and I would urge the members to read these reports. I'm not saying these are the majority of cases, but these contain cases that show that people with very serious mental illness have really been fast-tracked to death in Canada.
I find it quite stunning, actually, that when we engage in discussions about this at the professional level, there is such a polarization in this debate. Instead of saying, “Oh, maybe these cases are serious and maybe we have to look at them in more detail,” there is immediate push-back. People say this cannot be true and the college has looked at it and it's all been solved.
I can read you a case. Mr. A had inflammatory bowel disease. He “could not maintain employment, he found personal relationships difficult to sustain, and he was dependent on family for housing and financial support.” He had “a history of mental illness, previous episodes of suicidality, and on-going alcohol and opioid misuse.” He received information about MAID during a psychiatric assessment.
If you ask suicide specialists what they think about the fact that a psychiatric expert would ask a person who is struggling if they know about MAID....
The report says that his substance use “was not explored...and he was not offered addiction treatments.” There was “no documented input” from his family, who had concerns about his MAID request. “The MAiD provider personally transported Mr. A in their vehicle to an external location for the provision of MAiD.”
That's just an example of some of the cases I've seen—