In Canada, the debate on medical assistance in dying has taken a new turn with the fight of Claire Brosseau. The 49-year-old former comedian and actress, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and attention deficit disorder, is suing the Canadian government to obtain access to this procedure, which is currently denied to people whose only pathology is psychiatric.
Since 2016, medical assistance in dying has been legal in Canada for people who are terminally ill or suffering from a serious and incurable disease. An extension to mental health conditions had been considered, but its implementation has been postponed until 2027. The government believes the healthcare system is not yet ready to manage such a development.
Claire Brosseau says she has been battling unbearable psychological suffering for over thirty years, despite numerous treatments. She says she has consulted psychiatrists and psychologists and followed various therapeutic programs, without any lasting improvement. According to her, the exclusion of people solely diagnosed with mental illness constitutes discrimination contrary to the rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Together with the organization Dying With Dignity Canada, she filed a constitutional complaint in 2024 seeking recognition of this right. A Canadian parliamentary committee is scheduled to examine the issue of extending this provision to psychiatric disorders in March.
In France, psychiatric pathologies are excluded
In France, the debate on end-of-life care recently took a significant step forward with the adoption, on February 25th, of a bill in the National Assembly. The text provides access to assisted dying for adults suffering from a serious and incurable illness that is life-threatening, in an advanced or terminal stage, and whose suffering is refractory to treatment or deemed unbearable.
The concept of exclusively psychological suffering has been removed from the text. Members of Parliament clarified that psychological suffering alone cannot, under any circumstances, justify access to assisted dying. In fact, psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder are excluded from the provision, particularly because they do not pose a life-threatening risk in the terminal phase and can impair the expression of a "free and informed" will.
The bill must now be examined by the Senate in April, before potentially returning to the National Assembly. On both sides of the Atlantic, the question of including mental illness in assisted dying procedures continues to generate a particularly sensitive ethical and legal debate.
