She's 47, anorexic and wants help dying. Canada will soon allow it
By Anna Mehler Paperny
TORONTO (Reuters) — Lisa Pauli wants to die.
The 47-year-old has wrestled with the eating disorder anorexia for decades; she says she has had a warped relationship with her body since age 8.
These days, Pauli says, she weighs 92 pounds and may go days without eating solid food. She says she is too weak to carry groceries home without stopping for breaks.
«Every day is hell,» she said. «I'm so tired. I'm done. I've tried everything. I feel like I've lived my life.»
Pauli cannot legally get medical help to die — yet.
An expansion of the criteria for medically assisted death that comes into force in March 2024 will allow Canadians like Pauli, whose sole underlying condition is mental illness, to choose medically assisted death.
Canada legalized assisted death in 2016 for people with terminal illness and expanded it in 2021 to people with incurable, but not terminal, conditions. The legal changes were precipitated by court rulings that struck down prohibitions on helping people to die.
The new mental health provision will make Canada one of the most expansive countries in the world when it comes to medical assistance in dying (MAID), according to an expert panel report to Canada's parliament.
(Listen to a special episode of the Reuters World News podcast here)
Proponents of assisted death — which is still a novel concept in many parts of the world — say it is an issue of personal autonomy.
But six disability rights and religious advocates told Reuters that the pace of the planned changes to the assisted death framework in Canada brings additional risks of people opting for MAID because they are unable to access social services — that lack of which could exacerbate their suffering.
Canada's Justice
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