Number of assisted deaths jumped 31.2% in Canada
Canada has published data saying that the number of medically assisted deaths in 2022 was 31.2 percent higher than the year prior, with only citizens aged 18 and older able to use this procedure, TASS reports
As the CBC television channel reported, citing statistics from the country’s Health Ministry, last year 13,241 people received medically assisted deaths, accounting for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the North American country last year. Data for 2023 has not yet been released.
Under the law, which came into effect in June 2016, euthanasia is only permitted for Canadian citizens. The law stipulates that only mentally healthy people over 18 years of age have the right to voluntary end of life with the assistance of doctors, provided that they suffer from incurable diseases or have received injuries that will inevitably lead to death.
Thanks to the adoption of the law, doctors performing euthanasia are exempt from criminal prosecution.
About 45,000 people have received medically assisted deaths since the introduction of federal legislation in 2016.
