
Canada's assisted-dying law faces constitutional fight for excluding mental disorder
CTV
A man who says he suffers from chronic and worsening mental health issues is among those launching a court challenge of the federal government assisted dying law, which excludes people suffering solely from a mental disorder.
A man who says he suffers from chronic and worsening mental health issues is among those launching a court challenge of the federal government assisted dying law, which excludes people suffering solely from a mental disorder.
An application filed by Dying with Dignity in Ontario Superior Court on Monday argues that it is discriminatory to bar people with mental disorders from being eligible for an assisted death when it is available to people who suffer physically.
The organization is asking the court to immediately quash the mental-health exclusion.
Plaintiff John Scully said going to court is his last hope.
No medication, treatment or therapy has eased the post-traumatic stress disorder the former war correspondent suffers from, along with depression and anxiety. All are made worse by sleep deprivation.
"In the last 36 hours, I've had four hours (of) sleep," he said in a recent interview. "And the sleep is polluted with nasty, vicious nightmares."
At 83, Scully said his condition is worsening by the day, not only mentally but physically.

While Canada is well known for its accomplishments in space — including building the robotic arms used on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station — the country still has no ability to launch its own satellites. This week, Ottawa committed nearly a quarter‑billion dollars towards changing that.

It’s an enduring stereotype that Canadians are unfailingly nice, quick to apologize even when they have done nothing wrong. But an online urban legend claims the opposite of Canada’s soldiers, painting a picture of troops so brazen in their brutality that international laws were rewritten to rein them in.











