[Canada] First reading: Hundreds seeking death due to loneliness — inside Canada’s new MAID figures

[Canada] First reading: Hundreds seeking death due to loneliness — inside Canada’s new MAID figures 
National Post, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; by Tristin Hopper; 12/13/24 
[Health Canada has] released the official figures on medical assistance in dying (MAID) deaths in 2023. The Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, published on Wednesday, reveals that one in every 20 Canadian deaths is now due to assisted suicide. There were 15,343 total MAID deaths in 2023, the median age ... was 77.7 years, and 622 people received MAID for a non-terminal illness. ... The growth rate [in Canada] remains higher than anywhere else. ... Half of non-terminally ill people applying for MAID report being lonely. When applying for MAID, patients are asked to detail all the types of suffering they’re experiencing in order to determine if their condition qualifies as something “grievous and irremediable” — and thus eligible for death. Health Canada’s report reveals that 47.1 per cent of non-terminally ill Canadians who applied for MAID reported “isolation or loneliness” as one of the causes of their suffering. This was significantly higher than the number of terminally ill applicants who said the same (21.1 per cent).
Editor's note: What correlations exist for the United States? Consider this article, “Loneliness tied to death ideation in older adults, study finds,” posted 9/3/24.