Despite the fact that California and Canada have the same population - about 39 million people, and legislated a euthanasia law at around the same time (2015 and 2016 respectively), the number of cases of assisted death in Canada is much higher. While California's cases amounted to 853 in 2022, Canada's total stood at 13,241 cases. In 2021, 486 people in California chose assisted death compared to 10,064 in Canada.
In 2022, 853 Californians chose to end their life compared to 13,241 in Canada. Recently, Canada expanded the law to include patients suffering from chronic pain but not expected to die soon, as well as patients with mental disorders. A father of an autistic woman from Calgary filed an appeal to cease her approved assisted death but recently withdrew his appeal after his daughter decided to starve herself.
2 View gallery he number of cases of assisted death in Canada is 15 times higher than California, which has the same population ( Photo: Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP ) The law receives much criticism in Canada, some saying the government is "encouraging" citizens to die. Many claim that including mentally ill patients undermines suicide prevention efforts. Family members of those who received approval for assisted death due to mental disorders are frustrated by Canada's ease in approving assistance in ending their lives.
In a new study, researchers examined 10 hypotheses that may explain the significant difference in euthanasia cases between Canada and California. Peter.