Montreal-based actress Claire Brosseau is asking the Ontario Superior Court for access to medically assisted death, saying years of severe mental illness have left her in unbearable suffering.
Brosseau, 49, says she has bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder but is physically healthy, placing her case at the centre of Canada’s debate over Medical Assistance in Dying.
“It’s unbearable. Every morning I wake up, I don’t think I’m going to make it through the day,” Brosseau said outside court, according to the Canadian Press.
Brosseau has said she spent decades seeking treatment, including more than two dozen medications, multiple therapies and electroconvulsive treatment, without lasting relief.
Her lawyer, Michael Fenrick, called the request extraordinary but said Brosseau’s circumstances required serious consideration.
Her sister, Melissa Morris, told The New York Times she was angry when Brosseau first described her plan, saying she initially saw it as “giving up.”
Brosseau’s mother, Mary Louise Kinahan, said no mother wants to lose a child, but also does not want to see “incredible suffering.”
Psychiatrist Dr. Mark Fefergrad told The New York Times he believed recovery remained possible and said assisted suicide was not the best or only option.
Another psychiatrist, Dr. Gail Robinson, said she hoped Brosseau would change her mind but supported her right to seek a legal exemption.
Brosseau has sought access to assisted dying since 2021. In 2024, she and advocacy group Dying with Dignity sued the Canadian government over restrictions affecting people whose sole underlying condition is mental illness.
