In Quebec, medical assistance in dying is officially extended to people suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia, who will however have to wait up to two years before being able to make an advance request.
The deputies of the National Assembly adopted on Wednesday the reform of the Act respecting end-of-life care, which extends medical assistance in dying to incapacitated people.
The party line not being required for this bill, parliamentarians were free to vote according to their soul and conscience. Two Liberal MPs, Filomena Rotiroti and Linda Caron, opposed it, while their colleague from Acadie, André A. Morin, abstained.
If the Legault government applies the recommendations of the report of the cross-partisan commission on the evolution of the Act concerning end-of-life care, Minister Sonia Bélanger has given herself up to 24 months to apply requests for assistance. medicine to die early.
“It’s not an objective in itself, it’s the limit to enforce the anticipated demand. I am committed to doing it as quickly as possible, ”she said after the vote. The minister responsible for seniors promises to “get into work mode” as soon as possible. Mme Bélanger plans to meet with the Order of Nurses and the College of Physicians of Quebec shortly to concoct training programs for health personnel who will be involved in the process.
“We must train competent professionals and we must train them correctly,” she pleaded, before adding that the national register of advance requests will be taken care of by the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
- Listen to the Know It All segment in 24 minutes with Alexandre Moranville-Ouellet on QUB radio: