Symposium "The Canadian Experience with Medical Assistance in Dying: Medical, Legal, Ethical and Social Implications for Germany"

A joint event organised by the Göttingen Centre for Medical Law and the Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine at Göttingen University Hospital

Time: 09. Juni 2026, 17:00 – 19:00 Uhr
Location: Zoom (hybrid) und Institut für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin, Seminarraum, Humboldtallee 36, 37073 Göttingen

Registration for online participation: niklas.petersen@med.uni-goettingen.de

Podium:
Prof. Dr. Jonas-Sébastien Beaudry (McGill University, Montreal)
Prof. Dr. Trudo Lemmens (University of Toronto)
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Volker Lipp (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
PD Dr. Stefanie Graefe (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)
Prof. Dr. Barbara Schneider (LVR-Klinik Köln)
Prof. Dr. Jan Schildmann (Universitätsmedizin Halle)

To examine the implications and consequences of liberalizing assisted dying in a nuanced way, it is instructive to look at countries that have legalized such practices in recent years. Canada presents a particularly compelling case study, having transitioned within a single decade from complete prohibition to one of the world’s highest rates of physician-provided death.

In 2015, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled – using reasoning similar to that of the German Constitutional Court five years later – that the criminal prohibition of assisted dying violated constitutional rights to life, liberty, and security of the person. This landmark decision led to the legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), initially limited to individuals with reasonably foreseeable natural deaths and later expanded to include all persons suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition. Today, MAiD has become a normalized end-of-life option in Canada: over five percent of all deaths are now attributed to MAiD. Controversial cases suggest that requests for MAiD are not solely driven by medical conditions but also by social suffering and inadequate access to medical and palliative care. There is growing concern that the ease of access to MAiD, combined with insufficient safeguards, may substantially undermine suicide prevention efforts and place vulnerable populations at risk.

This online symposium aims to analyze the factors and institutional arrangements that have contributed to the normalization of MAiD in Canada. The discussion will explore the medical, ethical, legal, and social implications of liberalizing assisted dying practices with regard to the current debate on regulating assisted suicide in Germany.