(New York Times) – Ms. Brosseau says mental illness has made her life unbearable. She wants a medically assisted death. Even her psychiatrists are split over whether she should have one.

The exclusion was to end on March 17, 2023, and Ms. Brosseau planned to apply for an assisted death that day. But as that date drew close, the government announced a further yearlong delay. Then, last year, another.

I met Ms. Brosseau a few months after the first delay was announced in 2023. I was in the early stages of reporting a series of articles on medically assisted death around the world. As many countries introduced access to the procedure, I wanted to examine challenges that had emerged in places where it had been legal for a while and largely accepted.

In Canada, assisted death for people with mental illness was fast becoming a highly charged issue. I spoke to psychiatrists and other experts, and sought out patients who were considering applying once the procedure was legal for them. That’s how I met Ms. Brosseau. Every conversation I had with her — wrenchingly sad, wildly funny — illuminated another complicated aspect of this question. (Read More)