Published September 16, 2025
In 2012, Justice Lynn Smith of the British Columbia Supreme Court concluded in Carter v Canada (Attorney General) that an appropriately safeguarded physician-assisted dying program could be adopted in Canada without creating a “heightened risk” or an “inordinate” impact on vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities.1 On appeal, in 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed Justice Smith’s reasoning, based on the trial judge’s review of evidence from international jurisdictions with assisted dying programs.2 The Supreme Court upheld the trial judge’s ruling, which struck down the prohibitions against assisted suicide and euthanasia in the Criminal Code,3 resulting in the decriminalization of assisted dying in Canada.4
Thus the decriminalization and subsequent legalization of MAiD in Canada was based on some specific expectations established by the Carter decision:5
- There would not be a disproportionate impact on the right to life for vulnerable groups.
- The people who would die from physician-assisted suicide would primarily be those imminently terminally ill.
- Physicians would be careful to scrutinize the complexities of requests for assisted suicide for persons living with disabilities or depression.
- Those who felt like a burden, were socially isolated, or suffered from neurological illnesses and disabilities would continue to be protected through a scrupulous review process that protected their right to personal autonomy along with their right to life.
This report examines whether these expectations about the impact of MAiD on vulnerable groups—specifically, persons living with disabilities—have been borne out in reality. It argues, using the available national and provincial data on MAiD deaths, that the removal of the complete ban on euthanasia and assisted suicide has led to an intensified risk of premature death to persons with disabilities in Canada and that the expected safeguards have failed to materialize. The MAiD regime has a highly disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities.
Click here to continue reading.
Alexander Raikin is a Visiting Fellow in the Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His research focuses on the dignity of human life and end-of-life issues, especially on its impact on the field of medicine and broader ethical questions of social belonging.
