Peter Singer promotes euthanasia for mental illness.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Peter Singer

Long time euthanasia promoter, Peter Singer, has written a commentary on the expansion of euthanasia to include people with mental illness alone and advanced request for euthanasia. His commentary seems factual and dispassionate but in fact he supports more death by euthanasia.

In his article that was published by Project Syndicate, Singer reports on the expansions of euthanasia world-wide. Singer focuses on Canada, which recently expanded euthanasia, known as MAiD, to people who are not terminally ill and to people with mental illness alone. Euthanasia for mental illness alone is "held" for 24 months as Canada devises protocols for killing.

Singer first comments on the issue of euthanasia by advanced request, which the Dutch Supreme Court recently approved. He states:

The issue of allowing advance requests for assistance in dying will become more pressing as populations age and more people develop dementia. Last year, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that doctors cannot be prosecuted for carrying out euthanasia on patients who have given written consent, but subsequently lost the capacity to consent.

Singer accurately points out how an aging population creates more pressure on a nation, nonetheless he ignores the fact that not requiring consent at the time of death justifies euthanasia without consent. 

Allowing euthanasia without consent undermines the original sales pitch for euthanasia, that being choice and consent. When consent is not required who chooses?

Singer then comments on the issue of euthanasia for mental illness alone. Singer states:

There can be little doubt that some mentally ill people are not helped by treatment, and do suffer greatly. It is hard to see why, if suffering from an incurable but non-terminal physical illness suffices for assistance in dying, suffering that is as bad or worse from incurable mental illness should not also be sufficient. Moreover, for people who are suffering from untreatable depression or other mental illnesses that do not respond to treatment, merely being judged eligible for euthanasia can in itself make life more bearable.

Singer acknowledges that psychiatric assessments may not determine if the mental illness is incurable, but then he suggests that this doesn't matter because only the patient can determine how unbearable the suffering is.

Euthanasia promoters, such as Singer ignore the reality that there is no proof that certain psychiatric conditions are untreatable and secondly they ignore the fact that a symptom of some psychiatric conditions is suicidal ideation.

We kill them because they want to die, but they want to die because they need treatment. Meanwhile Bill C-7 did not require that the person try effective treatments.

We need a caring society, not a killing society.

• Article: Is euthanasia psychiatric treatment? (Link).
• Article: Why legalizing medical assistance in dying for people with mental illness is misguided (Link).
• Conceiving the inconceivable, assisted suicide for people with mental illness (Link).
• Dutch euthanasia court decision opens the door to dubious practices (Link).