Canada plans bill on MAID for mental illness and advance requests

Canada’s government plans to introduce a bill on two questions about medical assistance in dying, or MAID.

One is whether people whose only underlying condition is mental illness should be eligible.

The other is whether people can request MAID in advance if they may later lose the ability to consent.

The debate matters because current federal law does not allow either option, and the mental illness exclusion is set to expire in March.