Canada's assisted suicide laws have continued rapidly expanding in recent years, with a group of doctors now pushing for disabled newborn babies to be euthanized.
The demand for euthanasia is so high that doctors who provide it cannot keep up, according to a new report by The Atlantic.
Assisted dying, legalized in 2016, now accounts for about one out of 20 deaths in Canada, far surpassing countries where it's been legal for longer.
As assisted deaths have become a major part of Canada's health care system, the Quebec College of Physicians suggested legalizing euthanasia for infants born with 'severe malformations.'
As The Atlantic noted, the practice is legal in the Netherlands - the first country to adopt it since Nazi Germany did it in 1939.
Currently, patients don't need to be terminally ill to qualify for Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAID, as it's called in Canada.
In two years, the mentally ill will qualify for MAID, and parliament has recommended granting access to minors.
Just one doctor - Vancouver's Ellen Wieber, who used to be an abortion provider - has euthanized more than 430 patients in nine years.
Vancouver doctor Ellen Wieber, who used to be an abortion provider, has euthanized more than 430 patients in nine years
Canada allows doctors to administer lethal injections and for MAiD candidates to receive fatal drugs they can take at home, like in this photo
The Quebec College of Physicians suggested legalizing euthanasia for infants born with 'severe malformations'
Stefanie Green, another Vancouver doctor, said she calls her MAID deaths 'deliveries' instead of 'provisions,' which is the term for euthanasia that Canadian doctors use.
As a former maternity doctor, she used to welcome lives into the world, and now sees her job as 'delivering life out.'
Several doctors told The Atlantic they have felt uncomfortable providing MAID to patients who are not terminally ill, but they must respect their wishes as Canada's law prioritizes the patient's autonomy.
Toronto-based cancer psychiatrist Madeline Li shared the story of a man in his early 30s who went to the emergency room in pain and was diagnosed with a cancer that had a 65 percent chance of a cure.
But the young man declined any kind of treatment and demanded MAID.
While MAID is advertised as allowing patients to die peaceful and dignified deaths, one doctor told The Atlantic that not all who choose assisted suicide have a loving send off.
Toronto physician Sandy Buchman told of a patient who was 'all alone' lying on a mattress on the floor of an otherwise empty rental apartment.
Canada's legal criteria require a medical reasons for euthanasia - a fatal diagnosis or unmanageable pain - but a 2024 report by Ontario's chief coroner found that some patients were euthanized based on other factors including an 'unmet social need.'
The report came after an Associated Press investigation found doctors and nurses were privately struggling with euthanasia requests from vulnerable people whose suffering might be addressed by money, social connections or adequate housing.
Providers expressed deep discomfort with ending the lives of vulnerable people whose deaths were avoidable, even if they met the criteria in Canada's euthanasia system.
In the case of a man identified as Mr A, Ontario's expert committee questioned whether authorities tried hard enough to relieve his pain before he was euthanized.
Mr A was an unemployed man in his 40s with bowel disease and a history of substance abuse and mental illness.
He was described as 'socially vulnerable and isolated.' Some committee members were alarmed that a psychiatrist suggested euthanasia during a mental health assessment.
Mr A was eventually picked up and driven to the location where he was killed by the health professional who euthanized him - a transgression of professional boundaries, according to some committee members.
They said that might have 'created pressure and gave rise to a perception of hastening a person towards death.'
Another case detailed Ms B, a woman in her 50s suffering from multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, with a history of mental illness including suicidality and post-traumatic stress disorder.
She was socially isolated and asked to die largely because she could not get proper housing, according to the report.
Canada's road to allowing euthanasia began in 2015, when its top court declared that outlawing assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. It gave national leaders a year to draft legislation.
The resulting 2016 law legalized both euthanasia and assisted suicide for people aged 18 and over, provided they met certain conditions.
They had to have a serious, advanced condition, disease, or disability that was causing suffering and their death was looming.
The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly broadening the number of eligible people.
Critics say that change removed a key safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially decades of life left.
Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease, or disability can seek help in dying.
Euthanasia is legal in seven countries - Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain - plus several states in Australia.
Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of US states, allow doctor-assisted suicide - in which patients take the drug themselves, typically crushing up and drinking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a physician.