(Ottawa) A group is urging the federal government to allow people with conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia to request medical assistance in dying before their cognitive decline.
Dying with Dignity Canada President and CEO Helen Long says there is strong public support for allowing people with neurocognitive disorders to request assistance in dying before their illness causes them to lose the ability to consent .
The demand to allow better access for these patients follows Ottawa’s decision, after months of debate, to delay the extension of eligibility to people suffering solely from mental illness.
The government legislated for a three-year pause, after several provinces told the federal health minister their systems were not ready to implement the policy.
The organization of Mme Long, along with other proponents of the idea, argue that people with intolerable mental illness should have the same right to the procedure as people with a debilitating physical condition.
“Given what happened with the mental health delay, I think this is the time for us to really focus on advance requests,” Ms.me Long.
“That said, you know, mental disorders are still something that we care about. »
The group commissioned a poll from Ipsos that found 83 per cent of Canadians surveyed support advance requests for people diagnosed with a “serious” illness that will eventually cause them to lose the ability to decide.
The survey was conducted among 2,000 Canadians in March and cannot be assigned a margin of error.
A special joint committee of senators and MPs tasked with considering expanding access to assisted dying recommended that Ottawa accept requests before cognitive decline, recalled Ms.me Long.
This would require a change to the criminal law.
Quebec passed a law last year allowing people in the early stages of serious degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease to request assistance in dying, and to access this procedure once their condition has worsened. .
The province has said a change to the Criminal Code is still needed to keep doctors from committing crimes, but Ottawa has yet to grant its request for a change.
“I hope that there are enough elements gathered so that there is perhaps a certain political will to change direction in this file,” indicated Mr.me Long.
The Alzheimer Society of Canada has said people with dementia deserve the same access to medical assistance in dying and should have the opportunity to apply in advance, after a diagnosis and plans for future care.
A debate over several years
The federal government introduced its first assisted dying legislation in 2016, after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the previous year that adults suffering from a “serious and irremediable health condition” were entitled to assistance in dying. help to die.
About three years later, a Quebec court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require that a person’s death be reasonably foreseeable to make them eligible for medical assistance in dying.
In 2021, the Liberals updated the law to reflect the lower court’s decision.
Parliament then accepted a Senate amendment to remove an exclusion for people whose only underlying problem is mental illness.
The government legislated a two-year period for systems and practitioners to prepare, then added a one-year extension in early 2023.
But critics who testified before a special meeting last fall said it wasn’t long enough because key questions about expanding eligibility still remained unanswered.
For example: how might practitioners judge whether a person is having suicidal thoughts, determine their likelihood of recovery, or take into account lack of access to treatment due to circumstances such as poverty?
The Canadian Mental Health Association and others have warned that people with mental illness must first have better access to help, while advocates for people living with disabilities have voiced their concerns. fears about how this could put vulnerable people at risk.
Federal Health Minister Mark Holland ultimately proposed delaying the expansion until at least March 2027. But he added that the government continues to believe that mental suffering is equal to physical suffering.
Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to abandon enlargement altogether if he wins the next election.