Our daughter experienced a period of extreme depression and anxiety for a variety of reasons including the loss of a job. During this time, if her physician to whom she entrusted her physical, mental, and emotional health was required to 'effectively refer' her to Maid she would have died. She needed to trust that her doctor saw her life as valuable. She began her healing through a psychologist. At that vulnerable time she needed a doctor for life not a doctor for death. There are other ways to access Maid than through physicians, who should not be compelled to compromise their consciences by providing these services, especially when it is in their patient's best interests to access other medical resources. "Effective referral" is simply a way of requiring professional doctors to take on the role of Doctor Death. Their Hippocratic Oath states that they will not administer a poison or suggest such a course, "Effective referral" needs to be removed from the current standard. Please do not , under any circumstances, extend Bill C-7 of Maid eligibility to Canadians whose sole eligibility arises from mental illness. This is a slippery slope we are going down.