Beyond political news: Reframing MAiD as a public health issue
When Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) was first legalized in Canada in 2016, access was limited to people whose natural death was “reasonably foreseeable.” The law later expanded to include those with serious, incurable conditions, even if they were not near death. Health Canada reports that in less than a decade, more than 60,000 Canadians have chosen MAiD, making it the country’s fifth leading cause of death.
In 2027, eligibility will expand again to include people diagnosed with mental illness, even if they have no other health concerns. The upcoming change has drawn significant public attention, but much of the media coverage has been dominated by legal and political perspectives. Danielle Landry, a researcher at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), cautions that how the media frames MAiD, and whose voices are amplified, can shape public understanding and engagement, often excluding the people most directly affected.
Whose voices are missing and why it matters
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Landry, a senior research associate at TMU’s Canada Excellence Research Chair in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing, noticed a disturbing pattern. Disability advocates were speaking out against MAiD’s expansion, yet their views rarely appeared in mainstream news.
“I kept asking: where are the voices of the people most directly impacted?” she said. These include people diagnosed with mental illness, Indigenous peoples, disabled communities and people living in poverty.
That question became the foundation for her research examining how Canadian news media represented MAiD’s expansion to include mental illness, the potential harms of this reporting for affected communities and its influence on public perception and debate.
The research team analyzed 367 English-language news articles, columns and letters to the editor on this topic from local, provincial and national Canadian outlets published between 2020 and 2024. They looked at the headlines, whose perspectives were featured, the words used to describe MAiD and mental illness, and discussions of death. Their analysis considered how the texts influence what the public thinks is normal, true or acceptable, and tracked not only what was reported but also what and who were left out.
Politics over people
The study found that MAiD’s expansion was primarily reported as a political issue rather than a health issue. Headlines often didn’t include words that would have made it clear the story was about MAiD, and people living with mental illness were typically portrayed as case studies rather than active participants in decision-making.
“Too often, people with lived experience of mental illness are left out of discussions about their health-care decisions,” Landry said. “When these perspectives are ignored, it can worsen inequalities.”
Many articles used technical terms such as “the procedure” to stand in for MAiD. This portrayal reduced assisted dying to a technical, medical process and obscured its ethical and social implications, Landry noted. The researchers also found a pattern of equating mental illness with suffering, a way of framing the issue that strengthens harmful stereotypes linking mental illness with a poor quality of life.
Recommendations for responsible reporting
The project’s findings underscore the importance of framing MAiD as a public health issue to better inform and engage the public. Journalists are encouraged to avoid equating mental illness with suffering and, in the absence of MAiD-specific reporting guidelines, to apply suicide reporting standards, such as those from the World Health Organization.
“These guidelines are designed to minimize harm and promote responsible coverage that avoids sensationalism,” Landry explained.
She suggested that future media guidelines around MAiD should be co-created with the communities most at risk to prevent systemic injustices and avoid reinforcing harmful beliefs that devalue marginalized lives.
Only by broadening whose stories are told and how can media coverage avoid further harm and promote equity in the public understanding of MAiD.
The research mentioned in this article was funded by TMU’s Canada Excellence Research Chair in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing.