Senators approved Bill C-14 in a vote of 44 to 28, giving in to pressure by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, which controls the House of Commons.
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Liberal Sen. Baker, the sponsor of the bill, concluded the same.
A headed debate emerged over whether to require patients to prove that their “natural death has become reasonably foreseeable”, as the law reads.
The Senate amended the bill to delete that stipulation, and the House rejected the amendment when it passed the bill Thursday.
The Canadian Medical Association, which has strongly supported C-14, said it was “pleased that historic federal legislation on medical aid in dying is now in place”. “I think the answer would be no”. It includes strict criteria that patients must meet to obtain a doctor’s help in dying. “It doesn’t have any teeth”.
“We going to have to consider our options very closely, looking at the bill and deciding what to do”. It is worse than the Belgian law; it is worse than the Netherlands, ” Schadenberg added.
But critics say the new legislation is too restrictive.
And most observers agree that it puts the bill on a collision course for a constitutional challenge.
Patterson commended the Senate for trying to expand the rules around who can qualify for a doctor-assisted death.
Numerous senators continued to urge the government to refer the bill to the top court, to see whether or not it complied with last year’s landmark ruling over assisted dying.
He also pointed out there is room for physicians to exercise judgment on what “reasonably foreseeable” death actually is.
“I believe Canadians are more vulnerable”, he said.
The law, which received royal assent on Friday evening, sets out national guidelines with strict safeguards for medical assistance in dying.
Wilson-Raybould argued expanding the qualifications could mean people with “any serious medical condition, whether it be a soldier with PTSD, a young person with a spinal cord injury, or a survivor whose memory is haunted with memories of sexual abuse” would be eligible for a doctor-assisted death. The biggest amendment, made by Liberal Sen. After much “soul searching” Duffy concluded that Bill C-14 is a “balanced approach” and a “Canadian compromise”.
“The Supreme Court already found that was unjust, that was unconstitutional”.
The sixty-five-year-old suffering excruciating physical and emotional pain, trapped in her body on account of advanced multiple sclerosis – but who is not going to die from her illness.
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“Let us remember, what a waste of human life if we kill today and we find the cure tomorrow”, Enverga stated.
