Claire Brosseau Seeks Medically Assisted Death as Canada Delays Access for Mental Illness

Claire Brosseau, a 48-year-old Toronto comedian and writer who says decades of mental illness have made her life unbearable, wants a medically assisted death in Canada. Even her two longtime psychiatrists are split over whether she should be allowed to proceed. Ms. Brosseau has tried many treatments over more than three decades and has made multiple suicide attempts, the article reports.

After a 2021 change in Canadian law allowed people with incurable conditions who were not near death to seek assisted death, the government excluded people whose sole condition is a mental illness and delayed including them while it drafted special guidelines. The exclusion was due to end on March 17, 2023, but the government announced further delays, and in 2024 said access for people with mental disorders would be postponed until 2027.

The disagreement among clinicians is vivid in Ms. Brosseau’s case: Dr. Gail Robinson told the reporter she would support Ms. Brosseau’s choice and called the exclusion discriminatory, while Dr. Mark Fefergrad said he believes she can recover and that medical assistance in dying "isn’t the best or only choice for her." Ms.

Brosseau agreed to be a second plaintiff in a planned court challenge by Dying With Dignity Canada and assembled extensive medical records; two physicians assigned by the legal team concluded she would be eligible under the guidelines if she were not excluded.

Key Topics

Health, Claire Brosseau, Canada, Toronto, Assisted Dying, Psychiatry