Euthanasia for mental illness. Court cases and Committee hearings.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Globe and Mail May 6, 2-26 editorial is titled: An alarm bell is ringing on medically assisted death for mental illness and features the letter from psychiatrists representing 13 Canadian medical schools. The editorial states:

Alarm bells don't get much louder than the written brief from the heads of psychiatry at 13 Canadian medical schools urging Ottawa to stop the expansion of medically assisted death to those whose only condition is mental illness.

The editorial quotes from the psychiatrists letter:

"As a society, we must provide hope and support to individuals during periods of despair and psychological suffering. In our clinical and academic experience, people can and do recover from prolonged suffering related to mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and substance use when provided with appropriate, evidence based treatments and supports," they wrote, adding they "strongly believe" that expanding MAiD would result in preventable deaths and would undermine suicide prevention efforts.

The Globe and Mail also stated in an article published on May 5, 2026 that the federal government is prepared to prevent the extension of euthanasia to mental illness alone, if the committee that is examining the question makes that recommendation.

The Globe and Mail was originally a promoter of euthanasia but over the past few years they have stated that Canada's euthanasia law has gone too far.

At the same time Dying With Dignity, Canada's leading euthanasia lobby group, filed an emergency relief on May 4, 2026 in an Ontario court to force the court to agree to the killing of Claire Elyse Brosseau who is living with mental illness as her sole underlying condition. Brosseau is a former actress.

According to the Dying with Dignity press release, Brosseau, Dying With Dignity and Dr Patricia Smith have filed the case.

Dying With Dignity would not be spending the massive amount of money on a court challenge if they believed that the federal government will extend euthanasia to mental illness alone in March 2027.

I had the opportunity to present to the parliamentary committee on euthanasia on May 5, 2026. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hopes that the committee will recommend scrapping euthanasia for mental illness and then agree to provide a complete review of Canada's euthanasia law.

My experience speaking to the Parliamentary Committee on Euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Alex Schadenberg

I was approved to speak to Canada's Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (euthanasia) on May 5, 2026. Previous sessions of the Joint Committee on euthanasia, which also dealt with expansions of euthanasia, denied me the opportunity to present to the committee.

I was given 5 minutes to present to the committee (link to my speech).

Based on my experience watching the previous hearings that examined euthanasia for mental illness, euthanasia for children and euthanasia by advanced request, I felt that the response from the Members of Parliament had changed. I felt that the majority of the joint committee continued to support euthanasia but they had become more cautious and were having second thoughts about expanding the law to include killing people who have a mental illness as their sole condition.

Alicia Duncan, the daughter of Donna Duncan, who died by euthanasia in 2022, also presented at the same hearing. Alicia provided an excellent testimony about why it was wrong to kill her mother, but also how the family was prevented, by the authorities, from receiving the "medical" reports that approved her mother's euthanasia death.

Alicia was questioned by two Senators who attempted to undermine her testimony. It is obvious that pro-euthanasia committee members are uncomfortable with the truth related to Donna Duncan's death and wanted to undermine her testimony rather than question the law that enabled a doctor to kill her mother.

My testimony focused on the need to fully review Canada's euthanasia law. I stated that:

...Parliament needs to completely review the euthanasia law.

More broadly, Canada’s assisted dying law is vague. While Health Canada provides guidance, the legal framework allows for wide interpretation and it lacks effective oversight.

Because of time constraints, I will highlight one key issue.

Sections 241 (3) and 241 (3.1) of Canada's Criminal Code states that medical practitioners or nurse practitioners are required only to be “of the opinion” that the eligibility criteria are met. That, in practice, makes accountability extremely difficult, even impossible to prosecute a medical or nurse practitioner in Canada, even when the MAiD death is clearly wrong or deeply disturbing.

Canada should not be considering the expansion of the euthanasia law to people with mental illnesses alone but rather Parliament needs to fully review the law.

I was asked several questions.

Senator Yonah Martin acknowledged that there has never been a review of Canada's euthanasia law. Previous committee's examined further expansions of the law, but not whether the law is being abused, even if the abuse is based on the vague language of the law.

One Member of Parliament asked me about people who are dying from cancer.  I will paraphrase my response.

I said that this committee is examining euthanasia for mental illness which I believe is a different issue.

Under the law, a person with a physical condition that is not terminal or irremediable does not qualify for euthanasia. If the law is extended to persons with mental illness, psychiatrists have testified that it is impossible to determine if a person's mental illness is irremediable, but the law would still permit euthanasia.

Most psychiatrists will tell patients with mental illnesses who are requesting to be killed by euthanasia that it is impossible to determine if they have an irremediable condition therefore it is impossible to approve them for euthanasia.

But some psychiatrists will approve requests for euthanasia by stating that the person has an irremediable mental illness. These psychiatrists will become known for approving euthanasia for mental illness, leading to patients, who are doctor shopping, contacting them to be kileed by euthaansia.

This situation is not different than our current situation except that in this case the people seeking death will be living, solely with a mental illnes.

I was also asked about people who wanted to die by euthanasia for mental illness, and are happy to be alive today. I responded by sharing the stories of Kathryn D'hondt and Andrea (Link to stories).

I was sitting beside Helen Long, the CEO of Dying with Dignity. There were several Senators and Members of Parliament who clearly support Dying with Dignity, who glowingly asked questions to enable Long to provide a longer testimony.

Dying with Dignity is a very dangerous group since they support euthanasia for nearly every situation.

Long appeared very nervous. She spoke about the recent legal challenge whereby Dying with Dignity is supporting Claire Brosseau in her demand to be killed by euthanasia based on mental illness. 

Dying with Dignity must be nervous because they wouldn't launch an expensive court case if euthanasia for mental illness will be in place in March 2027.

Canada parliament needs to fully review the euthanasia law.

This speech was delivered to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying on May 5, 2026. I was only given 5 minutes to speak.

Alex Schadenberg

My name is Alex Schadenberg and I am the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. I work in Canada and also with people world-wide who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide. Canada is increasingly seen internationally as a cautionary example. The rapid growth in MAiD deaths and the expansion in the types of cases are being closely watched abroad.

Developments in Canada have influenced debates in other countries, including the defeat of the assisted dying bills in Scotland, the UK House of Lords(1) and Slovenia, where assisted suicide was overturned through a referendum.

Rather than extending assisted dying to persons whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder, Parliament needs to examine how Canada’s assisted dying law is functioning. How has the law been implemented? Is it achieving its intended outcomes? Are there abuses of the law based on its original intention? Does the law require amendment? These questions have never been addressed.

Dr Ramona Coelho stated in her article, published by the MacDonald Laurier Institute on January 5, 2026(2) as a commentary on the Sixth Annual Report on MAiD that:

“Although the report emphasizes self-identified disability, all MAiD recipients are disabled by definition. Disability refers to any long-term impairment that limits participation in life. MAiD is legal for individuals with a “grievous and irremediable” condition, an incurable illness causing irreversible decline in capabilities. Anyone meeting these criteria is by definition disabled, though not all disabled people should qualify for MAiD.

Common conditions listed for Track 2 MAiD reinforce this point. Diabetes appears frequently, and Ontario’s MDRC documented a man who received MAiD for an essential tremor. These are disabilities, yet they do not usually cause the serious decline that MAiD is intended to address. By emphasizing self-identified disability, the report obscures the real story: MAiD eligibility targets disabled people, a concern highlighted by the disability community, the United Nations and human rights watchdogs, and most recently, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”(2)

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has called for repeal of Track 2 MAiD, increased oversight of the law and no further expansion, including the scheduled expansion of MAiD for the sole criteria of mental illness.

For instance, Kiano Vafaeian (26) died by MAiD in Vancouver on December 30, 2025.(3) Kiano was seeking assisted dying in Ontario, where he lived, but his requests for MAiD were not approved by doctors in Ontario.

Kiano then contacted Dr Ellen Wiebe in Vancouver, British Columbia, who assessed him and approved him for MAiD.

Margaret Marsilla, Kiano’s mother, was shocked that her son, who was living with Type 1 diabetes, resulting in Kiano becoming legally blind and also living with significant mental health issues, could have been approved for MAiD.(3)

Kiano was approved as a Track 2 candidate for MAiD. Kiano’s family was never consulted, which is important since Kiano was living with depression and suicidal ideation.(3)

The family did not learn about his death until several days after his death.

If Kiano’s death was the only disturbing MAiD death then one might suggest that his death is an outlier, but in fact there have been many controversial MAiD deaths.

Instead of expanding MAiD further, Parliament needs to examine how the current law has led to outcomes like the death of Kiano. Parliament needs to completely review the euthanasia law.

More broadly, Canada’s assisted dying law is vague. While Health Canada provides guidance, the legal framework allows for wide interpretation and it lacks effective oversight.

Because of time constraints, I will highlight one key issue.

Sections 241 (3) and 241 (3.1) of Canada's Criminal Code states that medical practitioners or nurse practitioners are required only to be “of the opinion” that the eligibility criteria are met. That, in practice, makes accountability extremely difficult, even impossible to prosecute a medical or nurse practitioner in Canada, even when the MAiD death is clearly wrong or deeply disturbing. 

The MDRC reports and cases that have already been submitted to you speak to that reality.

Canada should not be considering the expansion of the euthanasia law to include people with mental illness alone but rather Parliament needs to fully review the law.

1. Colby Cosh, “Canada’s horrifying example causes UK to think twice about euthanasia,” (January 31, 2026), online: National Post,< https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadas-horrifying-example-causes-u-k-to-think-twice-about-euthanasia>

2. Dr Ramona Coelho, “Disabled Canadians should never feel compelled to die. Let’s given them the support they need to live,” (January 5, 2026), online: Macdonald Laurier Institute, <https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/disabled-canadians-should-never-feel-compelled-to-die-lets-give-them-the-support-they-need-to-live-ramona-coelho-in-the-hub/>

3. Sharon Kirkey, “A Doctor took my ‘son’: This 26 year-old was denied assisted death in Ontario but died by MAiD in BC,” (January 30, 2026), online: National Post, <My name is Alex Schadenberg and I am the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. I work in Canada and also with people world-wide who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide. Canada is increasingly seen internationally as a cautionary example. The rapid growth in MAiD deaths and the expansion in the types of cases are being closely watched abroad.

Developments in Canada have influenced debates in other countries, including the defeat of the assisted dying bills in Scotland, the UK House of Lords1 and Slovenia, where assisted suicide was overturned through a referendum.

Rather than extending assisted dying to persons whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder, Parliament needs to examine how Canada’s assisted dying law is functioning. How has the law been implemented? Is it achieving its intended outcomes? Are there abuses of the law based on its original intention? Does the law require amendment? These questions have never been addressed.

Dr Ramona Coelho stated in her article, published by the MacDonald Laurier Institute on January 5, 20262 as a commentary on the Sixth Annual Report on MAiD that:

“Although the report emphasizes self-identified disability, all MAiD recipients are disabled by definition. Disability refers to any long-term impairment that limits participation in life. MAiD is legal for individuals with a “grievous and irremediable” condition, an incurable illness causing irreversible decline in capabilities. Anyone meeting these criteria is by definition disabled, though not all disabled people should qualify for MAiD.

Common conditions listed for Track 2 MAiD reinforce this point. Diabetes appears frequently, and Ontario’s MDRC documented a man who received MAiD for an essential tremor. These are disabilities, yet they do not usually cause the serious decline that MAiD is intended to address. By emphasizing self-identified disability, the report obscures the real story: MAiD eligibility targets disabled people, a concern highlighted by the disability community, the United Nations and human rights watchdogs, and most recently, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” 2

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has called for repeal of Track 2 MAiD, increased oversight of the law and no further expansion, including the scheduled expansion of MAiD for the sole criteria of mental illness.

For instance, Kiano Vafaeian (26) died by MAiD in Vancouver on December 30, 2025.3 Kiano was seeking assisted dying in Ontario, where he lived, but his requests for MAiD were rejected by multiple doctors in Ontario.

He then contacted Dr Ellen Wiebe in Vancouver, British Columbia, who assessed him and approved him for MAiD.

Margaret Marsilla, Kiano’s mother, was shocked that her son, who was living with Type 1 diabetes, resulting in Kiano becoming legally blind and also living with significant mental health issues, could have been approved for MAiD.3

Kiano was approved as a Track 2 candidate for MAiD. Kiano’s family was never consulted, which is important since Kiano was living with depression and suicidal ideation.3

The family did not learn about his death until several days after his death.

If Kiano’s death was the only disturbing MAiD death then one might suggest that his death is an outlier, but in fact there have been many controversial MAiD deaths.

Instead of expanding MAiD further, Parliament needs to examine how the current law has led to outcomes like the death of Kiano. Parliament needs to have a complete review of the law.

More broadly, Canada’s assisted dying law is vague. While Health Canada provides guidance, the legal framework allows for wide interpretation and it lacks effective oversight.

Because of time constraints, I will highlight one key issue.

Sections 241 (3) and 241 (3.1) of the Criminal Code states that medical practitioners or nurse practitioners are required only to be “of the opinion” that the eligibility criteria are met. That, in practice, makes accountability extremely difficult, even impossible to prosecute a medical or nurse practitioner in Canada, even when the MAiD death is clearly wrong or deeply disturbing. 

The MDRC reports and cases that have already been submitted to you speak to that reality.

Canada should not be considering the expansion of the assisted dying law to include people with mental illnesses alone but rather Parliament needs to fully review the law.

1. Colby Cosh, “Canada’s horrifying example causes UK to think twice about euthanasia,” (January 31, 2026), online: National Post,< https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadas-horrifying-example-causes-u-k-to-think-twice-about-euthanasia>

2. Dr Ramona Coelho, “Disabled Canadians should never feel compelled to die. Let’s given them the support they need to live,” (January 5, 2026), online: Macdonald Laurier Institute, <https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/disabled-canadians-should-never-feel-compelled-to-die-lets-give-them-the-support-they-need-to-live-ramona-coelho-in-the-hub/>

3. Sharon Kirkey, “A Doctor took my ‘son’: This 26 year-old was denied assisted death in Ontario but died by MAiD in BC,” (January 30, 2026), online: National Post, <https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/kiano-vafaeian-medical-assistance-in-dying>

Alberta Bill 18 passed and will soon be law. More provinces need to follow Alberta's lead.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Alex Schadenberg

I have great news.

Alberta Bill 18 - The safeguards for last resort termination of life act passed on April 18, 2026 and it will soon be signed into law. You can tell by it's title that the bill will not stop Albertans from being killed by euthanasia but it does improve safeguards and it will prevent some deaths.

Bill 18 was introduced as Canada's federal government is once again debating euthanasia for mental illness alone. Below is the press conference with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith when Bill 18 was introduced.

What does Bill 18 do? Bill 18:

• requires the person to have a 12 month terminal prognosis, thus preventing Track 2 euthanasia approvals. Track 2 refers to euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill.
• prevents the expansion of euthanasia to people with mental illness alone, 
• prevents the expansion of euthanasia to "mature minors", people who cannot consent and prevent euthanasia by advanced request,
• prevents out of province referrals,
• requires the assessor to contact other practitioners who have cared for the patient, before approval.
• requires (MAiD) euthanasia practitioners to receive specific training,
• prevents health care practitioners from introducing euthanasia, without a request,
• requires Regulatory Colleges to sanction practitioners who violate the act.
• provides conscience rights by enabling practitioners to refuse to participate or provide assessments for (MAiD) euthanasia,
• enables institutions to refuse to participate or provide assessments for euthanasia.
• require practitioners who refuse to participate or provide assessments to provide information to patients wanting to access euthanasia.

The best improvement from Bill 18 is that it prohibits euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill by requiring the person to have a 12 month prognosis. Bill 18 also prevents health care professionals from introducing the question of euthanasia and it allows medical institutions to refuse to provide euthanasia, which protects palliative care and religiously affiliated institutions from being forced to provide euthanasia.

Now that Bill 18 will soon the law of Alberta, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hopes that more provinces will introduce similar legislation.

Suicide, Assisted suicide or euthanasia

Alex Schadenbeg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I am speaking for 5 minutes to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (euthanasia) on the evening (May 5, 2026). 

My presentation will focus on the outcomes of Canada's euthanasia law based on the language of the law.

This article is not based on my presentation but concerns Canada's euthanasia law and determining when counselling or aiding suicide, which remain illegal in Canada, become informing a patient that euthanasia or assisted suicide are a legal option?

The Criminal Code of Canada states:

Suicide: Counselling or aiding suicide

• 241 (1) Everyone is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years who, whether suicide ensues or not,

  (a) counsels a person to die by suicide or abets a person in dying by suicide; or

  (b) aids a person to die by suicide.

The Criminal Code provides an exception for medical assistance in dying which states:

• (2) No medical practitioner or nurse practitioner commits an offence under paragraph (1)(b) if they provide a person with medical assistance in dying in accordance with section 241.2.

• Exemption for person aiding practitioner

  (3) No person is a party to an offence under paragraph (1)(b) if they do anything for the purpose of aiding a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner to provide a person with medical assistance in dying in accordance with section 241.2.

The Criminal Code exception for medical assistance in dying is not limited. Section 241 (5.1) states:

Clarification

(5.1) For greater certainty, no social worker, psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, medical practitioner, nurse practitioner or other health care professional commits an offence if they provide information to a person on the lawful provision of medical assistance in dying.

Canada's Criminal Code essentially states that it is an offence to counsel, abet or aid a person to die by suicide, unless the counselling, abetting or aiding is done based on providing information for euthanasia or assisted suicide (MAiD).

Why is this important?

Fr Larry Holland

There are many stories of people who have felt coerced to request euthanasia.

For instance, a Catholic priest in Vancouver was asked (coerced) on two occasions if he wanted euthanasia. The first request was made by a doctor, the second was by a nurse. How often did the priest have to say NO?

I received a call from a family in British Columbia who were upset after their elderly father was asked five times if he wanted euthanasia. His wife asked:  

How do we get them to stop asking us if he wants MAiD?

Heather Hancock

Heather Hancock, who lives with Spastic Cerebral Palsy was pressured three times to request euthanasia. The third time happened while she was in a hospital in Medicine Hat Alberta. Hancock described the situation:

One nurse came to my bedside in the early morning hours before breakfast and asked me "to do the right thing and consider MAiD." Her next words still ring through my head... "if I were you, I would take it in a heartbeat. You're not living, you're existing!"

I replied, "I am not you, and you have no right to push me to accept MAiD. I will never accept it! My life has value and no human being has a right to say otherwise."

Then there was the case of the veterans affairs worker who suggested (MAiD) euthanasia to a veteran who was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a traumatic brain injury. 

We don't know if the veterans affairs worker was a social worker or psychologist, nonetheless, there was no attempted prosecution, even though the veteran was not seeking MAiD and not happy to be offered MAiD.

In three of the four cases, the coercion was done by a medical professional, so even though these people felt coerced towards euthanasia, the law provided the medical professional with legal protection.

Garnett Genuis (MP) introduced a Private Members Bill C-260 to prevent coercion by non-medical staff. Whether this bill passes or not, Canada's Criminal Code clearly needs to be amended.

My concern is that Canada's euthanasia law is intentionally vague, it lacks definition and oversight. Further to that, the law gives medical professionals, who are willing to be involved with killing people, complete and total legal protection.

What about Kenneth Law?

Kenneth Law is a Canadian who sold a suicide poison kit online to as many as 1200 people world-wide. Law has plead guilty to multiple counts of aiding suicide. 

Based on a plea agreement, the Crown Prosecutor dropped the 14 counts of murder, that if convicted, would have resulted in 25 years in prison, for an agreement where Law plead guilty to aiding the suicide of his victims, a charge that would likely result in a 14 year sentence and after time served may result in 8 years remaining in his sentence.

Law is supposedly different because his poison kits were not oriented to Canada's MAiD law. Clearly we can see that Canada's Criminal Code needs to be clarified.

Even though I have concerns with the language of Canada's euthanasia law, my first concern is that we are killing people.

Canada's euthanasia (MAiD) law has been in place now for 10 years. There has now been more than 100,000 euthanasia deaths in Canada since legalization. 

The law is intentionally vague, it lacks any effective oversight and it is out-of-control.

Parliament needs to stop expanding Canada's euthanasia law and do a complete review of the law. Parliament needs to examine the language of the law and how the meaning of the language has evolved. Parliament needs to examine the practise of euthanasia and how the law has expanded far beyond its original stated intentions.

This article only deals with one of many concerns with Canada's Criminal Code. Canada's parliament needs to bring some sanity to the insanity.

Dementia Patients and Death by Intentional Undernourishment

This article was published by National Review online on April 30, 2026.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

Last year, I wrote here warning about a bioethics paper that advocated restricting the amount of orally received food and water given to dementia patients, an intentional undernourishment approach that the authors labelled “minimal comfort feeding.”

Well, the idea of death by intentional undernourishment has now hit the big time in the popular media with a long New York Times piece telling the story of a dementia patient who died under that regimen. I expect it to spark a national conversation. (I make a brief appearance in the piece. The reporter, Kate Raphael, could not have been more cordial and presented my views accurately. Also, she offers plenty of objections from medical professionals, so this response should not be deemed a criticism of her work.)

The title of the piece asks: “She Didn’t Want to Live with Advanced Dementia. So Why Was She Being Kept Alive?” It quotes the daughter of the dementia sufferer:

“We were never interested in prolonging her life just for the sake of prolonging her life,” Ms. Hendrickson remembered telling the doctor. “We wanted her to just be happy and comfortable.”

The doctor, who was not employed by the memory care unit, had a suggestion. She had recently read a paper that put forward a new approach, called “minimal comfort feeding,” in which providers stop scheduled feedings and instead offer dementia patients just enough food and liquid to ensure comfort, and only when the patient shows signs of hunger or thirst. The idea was that someone with advanced dementia with no interest in food, or limited interest, might be allowed to die once they begin to refuse enough hydration and calories to sustain them.

We must be very clear here. The issue is not about patients who refuse hydration and calories or who have no interest in food, but of not providing as much sustenance as they may want: intentionally undernourishment. Indeed, the original bioethics paper offers this definition:

Minimal Comfort Feeding: Only as much food and liquid as necessary to avoid discomfort . . .

MCF is the provision of only enough oral nutrition and hydration to ensure comfort (Table 1). With MCF, eating and drinking is not scheduled; rather, caretakers offer food and liquids only in response to signs of hunger and thirst. Patients are neither wakened for regular mealtimes nor encouraged to eat or drink. Instead, they are offered frequent, fastidious mouth care, continued social contact, therapeutic touch, sensory distraction, and medications to relieve distress associated with apparent thirst or hunger before being provided with minimal amounts of liquid or food.

In other words, if the patient shows signs of hunger, kill the urge by medication (sedation?). If the patient still wants to eat, sufficient food and drink to sustain them will be withheld.

The ultimate point isn’t comfort but hastening death. Where a dementia patient might live years if properly nourished with scheduled meals, under MCF, the “time to death” is “weeks to months.” The original paper even suggests that surrogates be allowed to decide to slow-motion starve patients in the absence of a signed directive so requesting:

Therefore, oral nutrition and hydration sufficient to sustain life may be declined by the individual for themselves in the future via advance directive or, in the absence of an advance directive, via a surrogate exercising substituted judgement.

The issues presented by this question are easily conflated and confused, but distinctions are important in ethical deliberation. The following actions and omissions are not what we are talking about by supporting full nutritional support for dementia patients who willingly eat or ask for food:

• Forced feeding: This should never be done to a dying patient. When patients are dying — whether of cancer, dementia, or another malady — refusing sustenance is often a natural part of the dying process.
• Feeding tubes: This is a medical treatment that involves surgery and a medically constituted formula. As a medical treatment, it can be refused in an advance directive. In contrast, spoon feeding when a patient willingly eats is a form of humane care of the same category as keeping patients warm, clean, and turning to avoid bed sores. Traditionally, humane care cannot be withheld.
• Forced medical treatment: This entails keeping patients alive for as long as possible regardless of their desires. Dementia patients may already have DNRs placed on their charts, refuse antibiotics, kidney dialysis, chemotherapy, respirators, and other life-sustaining medical interventions.

There are other issues to consider. What would the impact on caregivers be if they could be legally required to refuse nourishment that a patient wants? I think it would drive many caring nurses and aides out of the industry.

What about the chances for abuse by greedy relatives who would benefit from an earlier death or by assisted-care facilities receiving government payments? And think about the temptations to discard the vulnerable in a society — while calling it empathy — that seeks to save medical resources. And how would defining dementia patients as killable affect their perceived inherent equality? The list could go on and on.

These are not abstract questions. I have up-close and personal experience with the dilemmas associated with terminal dementia, as my mother died from the affliction. Mom was receiving hospice support at my home. At one point, she refused all food and I thought it was the end — until Helen, her saintly Visiting Angel, brought her some canned peaches. My mother took one look, quickly scarfed them down and asked for more! She soon began eating other meals too, particularly enjoying bowls of cereal. “This is delicious!” she repeatedly exclaimed. In other words, the joy of eating what she wanted, and as much as she wanted, brought her greater comfort than would have medicating her to deprive her of proper sustenance.

“Minimal comfort feeding” is just a euphemism for slow-motion euthanasia. If allowed, it would eventually lead to cases where advanced-stage dementia patients are getting lethally jabbed — all in the name of even greater “compassion” and “comfort,” of course. Do we really want to go down that path?

Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Note: We regularly receive calls from family members who have a loved one who is living in a hospital or care home with dementia and are often being pushed to withhold or withdraw food and fluids. Withholding or withdrawing food is discouraged but less concerning than withholding or withdrawing fluids. Death by dehydration happens within 10 - 14 days while death by starvation takes a long time. We encourage people to maintain small amounts of nutrition and hydration, enough to maintain the human body, but not so much as to cause problems.

We believe that one should never cause death, but enabling natural death is encouraged. There can be a difficult question when someone is approaching the terminal phase but not yet dying. When someone is not dying, the reason for withholding or withdrawing food and fluids is to cause death by dehydration. 

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition considers intentional death by dehydration to be ethically the same as euthanasia, but is a slower process with the same outcome.

Previous article:

• Mild stroke led to forced death by dehydration (Read).

Assisted suicide is not the compassionate answer.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dr Stephen Ward

Dr. Stephen Ward who is an internist and a practicing primary care physician for 16 years in Cheshire CT responded to the CT Mirror who published an editorial supporting assisted suicide on April 15. Ward responded with - Assisted suicide is not the compassionate answer.

As a physician myself, assisted suicide contradicts the physician’s most basic calling, to provide cure and hope for the patient. The prescription is no longer aimed to prolong life and delay death. Instead, death is the treatment.

Dr Ward comments on the editorial article emphasis on autonomy and writes:

What is portrayed as “choice” will be in reality closer to coercion. When life sustaining care is expensive and inaccessible, “choice” becomes limited. Assisted suicide becomes a cheaper alternative to years of expensive medical care and disability accommodations.

Dr Ward comments on healthcare cost containment and states:

The state would rather pay for your early exit than life-sustaining care. What an egregious message to send to our loved ones, neighbors, and friends.

Dr Ward then responds to the assurance that "safeguards" will protect you by stating:

However, in the tragic case of Eileen Mihich, every safeguard failed in Washington state, a state where assisted suicide has been legal for 17 years! Eileen suffered from serious mental illness, she was not a Washington resident, no doctor verified she was terminally ill, and no waiting period was enforced. Eileen was able to access assisted suicide drugs while side-stepping every safeguard. This can happen again to someone else’s daughter, sister, or friend.

Dr Ward then comments on attitudes that promote assisted suicide.

Unfortunately, misguided notions of “quality of life” means freedom from suffering in the name of a false compassion. This is a violation of patient autonomy. Yet assisted suicide celebrates despair as freedom to choose. The terminally ill and chronically infirm are among the most vulnerable in society and deserve legal protection. It is not the role of government to determine who does or does not have more human value than others.

Dr Ward completes his article by stating:

Yes, Connecticut is a state that leads in quality patient-first centered care. Let’s keep it that way. Connecticut should focus on expanding access to hospice and palliative care, not intentionally ending another human’s life.

Connecticut has faced assisted suicide bills nearly every year for almost 15 years.

Connecticut legislators need to listen to Dr Stephen Ward and continue to protect their citizens from assisted suicide.

Defeat of ‘dangerous’ UK assisted suicide bill is just a pause in our fight, say disabled opponents

This article was published by Disability News Service on April 30, 2026.

By John Pring

Disabled campaigners have warned that pressure to push through legislation to allow assisted suicide is sure to continue, even though the “dangerous” and deeply-flawed terminally ill adults (end of life) bill has run out of parliamentary time.

Those supporting the bill in the House of Lords repeatedly lashed out at disabled campaigners and allies who they blamed for blocking the bill, when it was debated for the final time in the House of Lords on Friday.

Because the current parliamentary session ended yesterday (Wednesday), the bill can now not become law, although it is highly likely to be brought back before parliament in the next session, which begins next month.

Disabled peers and others who suggested multiple amendments aimed at fixing the legislation’s many flaws have faced months of attacks in the Lords and the media accusing them of trying to block the legislation by “filibustering”.

Those attacks continued in a bad-tempered final debate on Friday, with the bill’s sponsor in the Lords, Labour’s Lord Falconer, and pro-legalisation colleagues, repeatedly attacking a “small minority” of peers who they accused of blocking the bill.

Lord Falconer said he was “despondent” that the bill had failed due to “procedural wrangling”, and said the Lords had “let down” terminally-ill people, while he later described the day’s debate as “horrible” and suggested opponents were responsible for that.

The disabled crossbench peer Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, one of the peers who has been targeted by Lord Falconer for her attempts to address flaws in the bill, told fellow peers that many of the amendments she had put forward had been suggested by disability organisations, including disabled people’s organisations, and “disabled individuals who are very worried about the reality of the bill”.

She said: “This bill has failed because there are too many gaps in it.”

And she said the fact that Lord Falconer had himself tabled 76 amendments “shows that there is not the confidence that this bill is safe”.

She said: “We have heard much debate today about the damage to [the House of Lords], but I have had thousands of emails to thank us for what we are doing here to unpack the danger that is in the bill.

“I am very clear on my role. It has not been pleasant to sit here and be targeted by so many people who say that we are doing a bad job, but our job is to protect everyone in British society, and this bill does not do that.”

Baroness [Jane] Campbell, another disabled crossbench peer who has been accused of blocking the legislation, said the number of peers who had taken part in debates on the bill “reflects deep and genuine concerns shared by NHS doctors, human rights bodies and disability organisations about the risks this legislation may pose to the most vulnerable”.

She said: “I have long supported autonomy for disabled people, but autonomy without protection is not freedom – it is risk.

“When the outcome is irreversible, that risk must be treated with the utmost seriousness.”

She said that organisations with concerns about the bill’s safety included the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, disability organisations, and the human rights organisation Liberty.

Baroness Campbell added: “Disabled people who have contacted me are very clear: this bill frightens them, and they want me to explain to your lordships why it is dangerous for them.

“They fear unequal access to care shaping their choices, subtle coercion that cannot be easily detected, error in prognosis, persistent assumptions about the value of their lives and a system already under strain being asked to deliver decisions of the utmost gravity.”

And she said it was clear that more work was needed before the bill could be considered safe.

She said: “If the bill is to proceed, it must clearly demonstrate that it can protect those in highly vulnerable situations while respecting the wishes of those it is intended to serve.

“At present, it does not meet that test.”

Not Dead Yet UK, the campaigning organisation that fights attempts to legalise assisted suicide, and which was founded by Baroness Campbell, welcomed the “pause” in the continuing push for legalisation, but warned that the bill would return to parliament.

Phil Friend, convenor of Not Dead Yet UK, said he and fellow campaigners were grateful to the peers who had scrutinised the bill so thoroughly and “found some very serious problems”.

He said: “Many of them were publicly labelled as enemies of democracy – denounced in rallies, criticised in open letters, their constitutional role dismissed as deliberate obstruction.

“Baroness Jane Campbell, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Baroness Ilora Finlay and others did their jobs.

“They took disabled people’s concerns seriously. They deserve our thanks, not our condemnation.

“And we, as disabled people, find it abhorrent that individuals were personally attacked simply for listening to us.”

Friend said the pressure to change the law “will not stop”.

He said: “We knew this was always going to be a long campaign. That hasn’t changed.

“We go into the next battle with stronger networks, a developing strategy, and a growing community of disabled people and allies who understand what is at stake.”

Picture: Members of NDY UK and parliamentary allies in March last year, including Baroness Grey-Thompson (front row, second from right)

Canadian psychiatrists: No to Euthanasia for Mental Illness.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Nancy Macdonald and Kathryn Blaze Baum (the authors) report in the Globe and Mail on April 30, 2026 stating that:

The heads of psychiatry at 13 Canadian medical schools are calling on the federal government to halt the expansion of assisted dying to people whose sole condition is mental illness.

In March 2021 (Bill C-7) Canada's parliament extended (MAiD) euthanasia to people who are not terminally ill and parliament extended euthanasia to people with mental illness alone. At that time parliament delayed the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone until March 2023. Euthanasia for mental illnes alone was later delayed again and is now scheduled to begin on March 17, 2027.

Canada's parliament appointed the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) to make discuss the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness in March 2027.

The authors of the article report that a letter sent to the AMAD committee from the heads of psychiatry states that:

there is no accurate way to determine when a mental disorder is incurable, no way to distinguish between suicidality and a MAID request, and no way to adequately protect vulnerable patients.

The authors of the article further reported that the letter states:

“People can and do recover from prolonged suffering related to mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and substance use when provided with appropriate, evidence-based treatments and supports,”...

Based on the current guidance, they add, patients in underserved areas may “receive MAID rather than evidence-based care.”

“We strongly recommend an indefinite pause on expanding Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) to include mental disorders as the sole underlying medical condition.”

The 13 signatories are not asking that euthanasia for mental illness be delayed, but rather they are asking for the provisions to be stopped. The authors of the article report:

One of the letter’s signatories, Jitender Sareen, the head of the University of Manitoba’s psychiatry department, said his colleagues are asking the government to stop the expansion.

“The main point is that we don’t think that in two years or five years we’ll be able to resolve this,” he said.

Dr. Sareen, who has 25 years of experience as a psychiatrist, including treating marginalized patient populations, noted that he signed a similar statement by department chairs in 2022, calling for a delay in expanding MAID to cover mental illness. “Many of our concerns have not been addressed.”

Chief among them, he said, is that there is no broadly accepted definition of irremediability — meaning the patient’s suffering can not be improved — in mental disorders and that there is no accepted mechanism for distinguishing suicidal ideation from MAID requests.

Dr. Sareen, who is also the co-chair of the Manitoba Provincial Psychiatry Council, said that psychiatrists in that province have asked its legislature to exclude mental illness as a sole basis for accessing MAID.

Karin Neufeld, the chair of McMaster University’s psychiatry department and signatory to the written brief to the parliamentary committee, said many of her peers are convinced there is no way to fix “the two fundamental problems” related to irremediability and distinguishing between suicidal ideation and a MAID request.

Alex Schadenberg will be presenting to Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) on Tuesday, May 5.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hopes that Joint Committee on euthanasia will stop the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone and also order a complete review of Canada's euthanasia law.

“Club Sandwich Mayonnaise” a play about Quèbec euthanasia.

All the World's a Stage! 

By Gordon Friesen
President: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

We have some very good news to report, from the cultural front, in the Province of Quebec.

This good news concerns the recent production of a stage play which might not actually condemn --but does seriously criticize-- the practice of medical homicide in that Province.

The arrival of “Club Sandwich Mayonnaise”, by Manuelle Legare, is encouraging for a number of reasons.

First of all, this is not a marginal production.

Mme. Legare is the daughter of local performance icon Pierre Legare, and was thus born into the Quebec cultural aristocracy, a status which she has successfully built upon through her own efforts in television and documentary cinema.

Furthermore, the participating dramatic production company, Porte Parole, was the first group to pioneer what has become the dominant Quebec stage formula, of 'dramatic documentary', and remains a leading reference in this style.

For these reasons, the Quebec opinion establishment have had no choice but to take this phenomenon seriously. And they have done so in spades. For after each (sold out) performance from April 8 to 18, leading authorities were on hand to participate in audience question and answer sessions, beginning, on opening night, with none less than Véronique Hivon, herself, the veritable Queen of euthanasia in Quebec, political Godmother, and author, of the original “Law Concerning End of Life Care”.

In terms of Quebec politics and society, this is a big deal.

Quebec does not have the same sort of litigious, political division seen elsewhere. All Quebec politicians, journalists, and influencers share certain crucial positions which they consider as universal social "consensus", and which it is assumed that no "serious" thinker might oppose. These currently include: an eternal resentment for Quebec's previous conquered status within the British Empire, certain extreme views on religion (or fossil energy) and most recently: an unfailing support of medical homicide.

Indeed, author Manuelle Legare states that the dramatic stage has become the only remaining public space in which any questioning of the medical homicide consensus might still be permitted.

However, as history shows, apparent (and rigorously enforced) unanimity of opinion often blocks the evolution of real and necessary criticisms, which subsequently explode in peoples faces. And it is this fact which explains the enthusiasm of both pro, and anti, medical homicide factions in embracing Club Sandwich Mayonnaise along with the indirect opportunity of discussion which it provides.

For the first time, after ten years of lockstep support, it would appear that there is at least some political willingness to entertain the thought that mistakes might have been made, or failing that, to concede that some small improvements might be desirable to limit unforeseen harms.

Returning to the author's description of her own intentions: Mme Legare lends official credence to the consensus belief in medical homicide as "social progress", but then speaks of "blind spots in the mirror", which in her case meant the profound psychological distress of hearing her father joke, one day, that he could order up his death as easily as "a club sandwich with mayonnaise", and then actually seeing his corpse laid on a slab, 48 hours later.

This, in short, is the sort of personal experience --implying enormous social rupture-- that no political "consensus" may prevent its partisans from questioning. And it is also a glimpse into the bottomless social abyss that so many of us have been warning against from the beginning.

To be realistic, of course, there is no scenario, whatever, in which one might imagine Quebec decision-makers ever showing sufficient humility to actually admit that they were simply wrong about the practice of medical homicide. And it may well be that pro-euthanasia forces will succeed in co-opting this first criticism as a positive opportunity of "healthy" adjustment. However, a definite breach in messaging unanimity has indeed been made.

As our ally Catherine Ferrier, President of the Physicians Alliance Against Euthanasia has described it:

"... all came out in the play. Rushed assessments, lack of access to other options, psychosocial suffering, priority of MAID over palliative care, etc. It mentioned the opposition of disability groups and the UN recommendation against MAID for people not at the end of life."

In short, the public airing of such concerns, in the undisputed ‘Belly of the Beast’ of Canadian euthanasia, can only be a good thing. And although the wheels turn slowly, and although no open admission of error will ever be made: Quebec politicians have also shown themselves to be extremely adroit in making 180 degree policy changes while firmly pretending to stay the course.

Let us all hope that we will eventually see that skill masterfully displayed, with regards to medical homicide.