Parliamentary committee says medical assistance in dying should be widely available

OTTAWA — A special parliamentary committee says medical assistance in dying should be made available with few obstacles to Canadians who are suffering from grievous and irremediable medical conditions that cause enduring suffering.
The committee, which introduced its long-awaited recommendations today, says that should include people suffering from both physical and psychological medical conditions.
And it says individuals diagnosed with incurable conditions that are likely to cause loss of competence, such as dementia, should be able to make advance requests for medical assistance in dying.
The committee says physician-assisted dying should be immediately available to competent adults 18 years or older and — after further consultations — should be expanded to include “mature minors” within three years.
Moreover, it says the federal government should work with the provinces to ensure medical assistance in dying is available in all publicly funded health care facilities and that any required period of reflection be flexible, taking into account how rapidly a patient’s condition is progressing.
Health care practitioners should be able to refuse to provide assistance but the committee says, at a minimum, conscientious objectors must provide an “effective referral” for a patient who asks for aid in dying.
The committee says federal government should work with the provinces to ensure, where possible, that requests for medical assistance in dying are made in writing, witnessed by two people who have no conflict of interest and that it be carried out only if two physicians, independent of one another, determine that the eligibility criteria has been met.
The recommendations are intended to guide the federal government as it drafts new legislation governing medical assistance in dying.
The Supreme Court struck down the ban on doctor-assisted death last year and has given the government until June to come up with a new law that recognizes the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to seek medical help in ending their lives.
Conservative MPs on the committee have written a dissenting report, arguing that the permissive regime recommended in the majority report “falls far short” of what is necessary to safeguard vulnerable people from being pressured or coerced into seeking medical help to die.
They object to extending the right to die with a doctor’s assistance to anyone under the age of 18 and to the notion of advance directives. And they’re shocked by the majority report’s failure to require a psychiatric assessment for anyone seeking medical help to die.
New Democrat MPs support the majority report but have written a supplementary report, in which they urge the federal government to demonstrate leadership by providing improved palliative care for people under federal jurisdiction, such as indigenous people, veterans and members of the armed forces.
They also urge the government to extend compassionate care benefits for family members who take time off work to care for a loved one.