Assisted suicide: from Canada to Switzerland for the Last Day

Canadians choose to travel to Switzerland to end their own lives last year, as Parliament passed a new law permitting doctor-assisted death that was widely criticized as too restrictive.

Dignitas, the Swiss organization that offers  suicide assistance to those with chronic, degenerative or terminal illness said 131 Canadians became members in 2016. It says 11 Canadians came to them in 2014, seven in 2015, and with the new law in place, five Canadians still travelled to Switzerland for assisted death feeling that new Canadian law did not leave them options at home.

In 2016, there were 7,764 people from 98 countries who became members of "Dignitas, To live with dignity – To die with dignity," up from 6,595 five years ago. Last year, a total of 201 people travelled to Switzerland to end their own lives.

Canada's new law, which came into effect on June 17, 2016, limits assisted death to mentally competent adults who have serious and incurable illness, disease or disability, where death is "reasonably foreseeable."

It excluded some of the most contentious recommendations from a parliamentary committee that studied the issue, including extending the right to die to "mature minors" and the mentally ill, and allowing advance consent for patients with degenerative disorders.

Shanaaz Gokool, the CEO of Canadian advocacy group Dying with Dignity Canada, said that excludes large swaths of people who should have been covered under the Supreme Court of Canada decision in the landmark Carter case which struck down the sections in the Criminal Code that prohibited assisted death. That's forcing people to travel abroad to die, she said.

The government was forced to draft new legislation after a unanimous landmark ruling on February 6, 2015, by the Supreme Court of Canada, which found the ban on physician-assisted violated Canadians' Charter rights.

The case involved two B.C. women who wanted end their lives with medical help. Both died before the court ruled. Justices gave the federal and provincial governments 12 months to prepare for the decision to come into effect.

After taking office, the Liberal government asked for a six-month extension, but the high court granted an extra four months, to June 6, 2016, leading to a compressed law-making process.

According to University of Calgary report, doctor-assisted suicide could save Canada tens of millions of dollars annually by avoiding costly “end-of-life” care. The savings — up to $139 million annually — will almost certainly dwarf the costs associated with helping dying patients kill themselves, researchers report.