A local physician who specializes in palliative care says she’s concerned any time a single group is singled out and told they can’t avail of the same services available to others.

Dr. Susan MacDonald was responding to the federal government’s decision to permanently exclude those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness from accessing Medical Assistance in Dying.

MacDonald – a former president of the NLMA – says that’s a concern for her.

“When one group of people are told ‘you can’t have the same services as everybody else in Canada’….that worries me.”

In her own practice she’s seen patients who have expressed frustration with not being able to access MAID.

“I have seen many patients who have come to me and said ‘the best day of my life, was the day I was diagnosed with cancer, because now I can get Medical Aid in Dying, but before with my mental illness, I was not permitted’ and I think that’s just awful.”