Quebec intends to expand the boundaries of medical assistance in dying to include people with incurable diseases or severe neuromotor disabilities. Minister Christian Dubé tabled a bill to this effect on Wednesday.
If adopted, it will allow a patient with conditions such as Alzheimer’s to make an advance request. It will also remove the “end of life” criterion provided for in the first Quebec law on medical assistance in dying.
Coming into force seven years ago, the Act respecting end-of-life care was partially invalidated in the famous Gladu-Truchon case in 2019. The new legislative proposals from the Minister of Health follow the recommendations of a transpartisan report tabled last fall by the four parliamentary groups, and in which Quebec was called upon to change its law to include people with neurodegenerative diseases.
Bill 38 “amending the Act respecting end-of-life care and other legislative provisions” does not stop there. In its 11 recommendations, the Special Commission on the evolution of the law concerning end-of-life care did not go so far as to propose admitting people affected by “serious and incurable” neuromotor handicaps. Christian Dubé’s legislative text does this.
Under this legislative framework, a person affected for life by a serious head injury could, for example, request medical assistance in dying. The progressive decline criterion would not be conditional on accessing this medical procedure.
Federal medical assistance in dying law already allows people with “severe and incurable disabilities” to make an advance request.
Three weeks
Parliamentarians theoretically have less than ten days to study, modify and adopt the new CAQ bill. “It’s really sad that we have to wait until the end of May,” said PQ MNA Véronique Hivon, who had tabled the first version of the Act respecting end-of-life care under the government of Pauline Marois.
“It looks like the government is doing all kinds of things at the end of the session because they want to tick boxes,” added the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Dominique Anglade, on Tuesday, while ensuring the collaboration of her party. to “move this debate forward”.
Québec solidaire intends to participate in a rapid adoption “if the bill complies with the recommendations of the transpartisan report”.