The committee, which included both MPs and senators, heard from witnesses who advocated everything from invoking the constitutional notwithstanding clause to override the court ruling to those who wanted “absolutely no restrictions” on access to medically assisted dying, Oliphant said. However, the report stressed that the second phase should come into force “no later than three years after the first stage”.
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Over the next weeks and months, Dying With Dignity Canada will continue to be heavily engaged in the political process, to ensure that the will of the 85 per cent of Canadians who support their hard-won Charter right to safe, equitable and timely access to physician-assisted dying is fully and faithfully embodied in legislation, Gokool said.
OTTAWA-Medical assistance to die should be available to eligible Canadians in hospitals or at home as long as two doctors approve the request, a patient gives “informed” written consent witnessed by two independent witnesses, and a certain waiting period is observed before the act. The recommendations also don’t discuss how such conflicts would be policed.
Conservative vice-chair of the committee MP Michael Cooper said the Conservatives chose to issue a minority report because the majority “failed to follow the roadmap of the Supreme Court” that assisted suicide should be a “right of competent adult persons” only.
An advance request may not, however, be made, prior to being diagnosed with such a condition.
Their report encourages legislators to take into account a doctor’s right to conscientiously object, but also calls for regulations that require those physicians to provide a patient with a referral.
They also recommended that palliative care needs to be approved generally, and work needs to be done to improve the lives of people with disabilities, mental health issues, and dementia.
He suggested doctors who disagree with patients seeking assisted-dying assessments be forced to refer their patients to other doctors who will do the assessments.
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.
Wilson-Raybould said in a statement that the assisted dying issue is complex and that her department is “committed to developing an approach that is based on empathy and strikes the best balance among a range of interests”.
The Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience criticized the committee report on Thursday for not going far enough to protect the rights of health-care workers and facilities.
Wilson-Raybould told reporters on Parliament Hill that her department intends to “move quickly” but that it is “too early to say what will be in the legislation and what won’t be”.
The Supreme Court a year ago quashed a section of the Criminal Code, clearing the way for consenting adults with serious health problems to seek help from a medical practitioner to end their life. “I’m very pleased with the recommendations, but what I’m most pleased about was the kind of the arguments that the committee has made in the text leading to the recommendations”.
Oliphant said he thinks the report’s recommendations reflect the view of most Canadians who, according to polls, believe “there should be medical assistance in dying available if someone asks for it”.
Requests for assisted suicide from patients who have secured the required exemption from B.C. Supreme Court will be treated on a case-by-case basis to find a final solution, said the document.
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Gokool also thanked the committee for recommending that all publicly funded hospitals, hospices and long-term care facilities be required to allow assisted dying on their premises.
